Playing the Heart's Strings
by Flutterash
Summary: A disgruntled human teen somehow ends up in Equestria. But it didn't end up as he read in the HiE fanfics! As Twilight Sparkle and Lyra Heartstrings discover him, will they discover each other, too? And just what does his presence in the pony country mean?
1. Prologue

The bright bluish glow of the computer screen as the device sprang to life reflected in his glasses. Their only attribute was being reading support, but he still liked the thin plastic glasses, whose black coloration complemented his own hair, an unruly black mess that constantly fell in front of his eyes. He swatted some strands back, only for the rebel sticks to come back at the front. As the screen turned momentarily black, he remembered his day up until that point.

The case hung in his back; it was adorned by a sticker with the image of a cello playing pony. –His classmates made sure to have it pointed out at least once a day, though it was always in good fun-. The familiar weight of the instrument behind him filled his mind with easiness as he sat down next to the window. The road bumped and the sight was the same as always, bearing its "clouded but not rainy day" version. The one-hour long travel –sometimes he even believed his watch ran out of battery, so slow would the trip be- … well, it as a rather boring trip when done effectively, providing the vehicle didn't come to a halt. Didn't the drivers bother to check up their machines before going on their route? And there was also the matter of the people that went up sometimes just to beg. Or to steal from passengers. But he was rambling now again, and only half the trip had been made. He closed his eyes and hugged his case tight. Finally he recognized the long asphalted path that tore from the main avenue and led to the university. As the bus stopped in front of the gate, he descended and walked towards his faculty

"Jones, what's with your tempo?" The scream pierced the room, reverberating. Damned acoustics. He held his guitar in both hands and looked at the irate teacher; almost swearing he would soon start expulsing vapor like a pressure cook.

"Sorry, Professor, I'll get myself back on track."

The professor didn't answer back; the class continued in their practice After what seemed like an eternity, they packed down and went outside to rest.

"Hey, Alb, what happened back there? You're always in sync with the rhythm, everybody was surprised. Roberts is just bitter, though, as usual." Noelle sat by his side at the usual bench they picked on Mondays; she was petite and thin, with exception of her round, full face. He didn't look at her.

"Just woke up feeling a bit down. No big deal, don't you worry"

"Well, you still have me here when you need me, Octave" She laughed, throwing an arm behind his back; and pressing against him. The "Octave" nick had been assigned to him in lieu of both the musical reference and the pony that adorned his black case, as they both were fans of the My Little Pony Friendship is Magic show and found the classy earth pony as a very likeable, representative figure.

Albert and Noelle had been quick friends since they both had entered the Musical Arts career two years ago. They had other good friends, but their relationship had simply tied itself in a knot, one of those fated meetings. Bereft of romance, as they had been likened to before to a cute couple of lovers, they dispatched such notion amicably.

Noelle took her arm off of him. "Well, let's go and practice?"

"Yeah, let's go now."

The small garden behind the building served as a resting spot for students who had breaks between classes. It was also used by Environmental Management students as a place for planting and growing different plants and trees, some of which bore fruits, and for the music students to practice, providing the faculty with the constant overflow of notes.

Time passed slowly as Albert played his guitar and Noelle sang; they had created a duet. As an instrument, she preferred the keyboard The sun was almost reaching its zenith in the sky when they decided to take a break and crossed around the building to get to the cafeteria.

After another half hour, they split as Noelle had choir practice and Albert had a class of music history. The class was over rather fast –at least for Albert's perception- and soon he found himself on the way back to his work. The feeling that pressed down on the top of his head still hadn't disappeared, but he could more or less ignore it.

Putting the guitar and his backpack in a room at the back of the locale, he went over to the front. The shop was relatively small, but in a well-populated area such as that one, it did good business and he got a good pay, for the few hours he worked in there weekly. His father was a good friend of the manager and had landed him the small job. His cellphone rang in that moment.

"Hey, Octave, what's up, man? Where are you?" Rick's voice sounded annoyed, as he claimed for Albert's presence. He was what Albert could call his closest friend after Noelle; an extroverted guy who kept dragging him into all kind of situations; the Octave's nickname had been stolen from Noelle, he assumed it to refer to a simple musical term.

"What do you mean where am I? At the store, of course. Where else would I be?"

"Aww, come on, Octave! What about the gig practice we were gonna have with the guys? This isn't cool at all, Albert. Not cool."

"Look, sorry, man, I lost myself there. As always. I'll make it up to you."

"That's not the issue here, Albert. Never mind, I'll go and talk this one off. We'll have to meet, though. Talk to you later"

He put the phone away and went to work. His shift that night was thankfully not very busy and by its end he got home, looking forward to rest.

At home, the familar warm atmosphere received him; his family (namely father, mother and grandfather, he was an only son) doted on him very much. Dinner with his parents –his grandfather generally ate earlier, and very little- was pretty much routine, but this didn't bother him at all. He finally wished them both a good night, and marched to his room, making himself comfortable. He turned on the computer and sat at the chair while waiting. Once he got on the internet, he checked the different forums and websites he visited regularly and after not finding many things worth checking, he decided to watch a Friendship is magic episode. After looking through the episode list, he chose "Stare Master"; he found the episode rather amusing and he liked the focus on a mythological beast.

He advanced through the episode until the part in which Fluttershy went into the forest, looking for the girls. The action developed in front of his eyes, until suddenly, something like a shortcut blackened everything momentarily. The computer's screen flashed brightly and he was rendered unable to see anything for a while.

The sky above was blue with a shiny sun. He was surrounded by huge, dark trees everywhere and the sounds of nature could be heard all around him; they were very detailed, almost like coming from a pair of giant speakers, his ears rung with the songs of birds, the rustle of leaves, the flapping of wings and many other sounds he wasn't able to decipher at the moment. Opening his eyes slowly, he blinked, as the light burnt his retinas for a while until he finally got accustomed. He blinked again, taking in the new, strange place, unable to process not being in his dark room anymore, but in a strange forest on the middle of the day. The new place, however, seemed to have a certain degree of familiarity, which he couldn't place exactly. Deeming not exactly productive to be standing around in the middle of the wild gawking at the sight, he started to walk, hoping to find a path in the middle of the wild place.

Suddenly he turned around, sensing a shadow somewhere near him. The thick trees surrounding him prevented the discovery of the source. He turned again in persecution of the eerie feeling that bathed him. Not understanding how something he couldn't see possibly made him so nervous, he spun back and started running, his feet cracking twigs and fallen leaves on the floor. He stopped momentarily to catch his breath, and dared a look behind him. His whole body turned back, when a cluck sound alerted him. A small figure jumped in front of him, and as soon as he recognized it, he knew everything was over. The head of a hen was joined to a lizard-like, winged lower body with hen legs, and its red, menacing eyes locked gaze upon him. In that moment, his body turned into stone from the feet up, giving him just enough time to think about everything he would be now leaving behind, what would be of them from now on without him, and lastly, a brief but insightful flash about just where he had ended up.


	2. But what is this?

Twilight closed the book. Surrounding it, bulks of parchment were laid around in the table, full of notes, drawings and lists that detailed preparing procedures, work schedules, last-minute-rescheduling schedules –there was always some crazy, out-of-nowhere thing that appeared and threw her out of the loop.- She checked the lists once and again, making sure they lived up to her standards. Everything was right. The library was clean and organized and Spike was ready to be in charge of it. The small dragon snickered at her overzealous organization, all for an absence that could last one hour, two hours tops. She didn't care; he would eventually come to realize just how important was to have the proper order for everything. She was a lot more relaxed now, in lieu of certain events that had shown her the need to be less stuck up when it came to such matters, but it would not mean she was going to drop her guard and let everything come down to an ungodly mess.

The saddlebags were floated to her back by her own magic, properly secured and checked –the vials and bottles she needed and some lists for the stuff she was going to get- before she sought out her assistant.

"Well, Spike, I'm heading out to the forest now. Take good care of this place, will you?"

"Yes, of course. It'll only be a couple of hours, chill down,Twi!" blurted out the small dragon, pushing her out of the building.

"Ok, Spike, I trust you."

She walked by town, waving her hoof to a cheery, bouncy Pinkie Pie that jumped around –"Hi, Twi, have you tried pepper muffins?"- and ponies that went on their way across the streets; Apple Bloom and Big Mac sold apples at the market. The path that led to the forest was calm and clear; as Twilight trotted by the side of Fluttershy's cottage, she couldn't see anypony around. Most likely, the shy pegasus would be inside her house, or behind it, feeding the small animals.

She trotted happily as the sunlight provided her warm and fuzzy feelings. The Everfree Forest was a place where most ponies would not go, filled as it was with dangerous beasts and plants, but it was not as dreadful a place as most made it out to be. Zecora, the smart and gentle zebra, lived into its depths without much of a problem, having just many things of what she knew and needed for her concoctions. Such potions, creams and preparations, which the zebra was so skilled at, produced many results that would be very hard to achieve with simple unicorn magic; it would need extensive and deep study on magical theories before anything could be even thought of as being plausible. For that reason Twilight had requested from her mentoring in the ways of using natural ingredients to prepare many things that would be useful for ponies. She basked on the cherished, familiar feelings of learning new things; moreover, she would, for once, branch out of magic as a main topic of study.

A sudden sharp pain in the forehead interrupted her thoughts. Her horn and head ached and her body was trembling from the shock. Once she recuperated enough, she looked at the object in front of her.

It was a stone statue. A very weird stone statue. A bipedal creature that stood tall and had its face contorted in a very strange expression, halfway through fear and surprise. His mane fell to his shoulders and by his face. Not hooves, but arms like a dragon, except it ended in long, thin claws with nails, not small and sharp. It also wore strange clothing. The figure clicked something on her mind, but she could not grasp what it was. The light of the son fell on top of the statue, covering it in shadows. The unicorn was mesmerized by the sight and a feeling inside that called for her to take it and carry to the library for study. She trotted hurriedly to Zecora's hut. The zebra accepted graciously her many apologies and assured her she would be there to help Twilight whenever the unicorn needed it. Relieved, Twilight went back to the forest clear where the statue was standing. She studied it; the stone monument did not bear any sign of damage, it in fact appeared such as if it were newly sculpted. And how and why did such a thing turn out spontaneously in the middle of the Everfree? Twilight's curiosity grew more as each second passed.

A purple glow linked the stone construction to her magic. She gave it a pull. The stone was heavy and pulled back against her. Still she held firmly on place and with a slow, steady rhythm, turned back to the town, making her way through the forest; behind her, the statue hovered a few inches above the floor. As she came out from the thick trees, having taken a couple of rests, she found Fluttershy outside of her cottage, feeding her critters. The yellow pegasus caught sight of her friend and the strange thing she had brought with her.

"Good morning, Twilight. Um, what's that you have in there, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Hello, Fluttershy. I found this statue in the path in middle of the forest and something told me I should bring it with me. It's really heavy though…"

"I've never seen something like that…"

"I'm not sure about this, Fluttershy, but I think this… this is a human."

The shy mare gasped rather quietly, her mouth forming a small "o" in surprise.

"A human? As in those that are spoken of in the old mare's tales? You really think so, Twilight?"

"Like I said, I'm not sure. That's why I'm taking it to the library, in order to study it properly. Once there, everything will be sorted out, I know."

She parted from her friend, who promised she would come by later, struggling with the lifting of the figure. The sight of the main town appearing before her eyes at last set her at ease, or it would have done so if so many ponies didn't turn around to look at her and her "package" crossing the streets. Whispers heralded her as she made her way through and continued when she left them behind. She made it to Ponyville's park and put the statue down in order to rest. As soon as she had made it to the library, she would have to make sure to eat something before going on with anything else. She sat down of a huge tree to enjoy the shadow it provided when something –or somepony- rushed by her side, making her hairs stand on end. A green blur was all her eyes registered, until it came to a stop beside the statue.

The green mint coated unicorn musician, Lyra Heartstrings, lifted her gaze at it, awe striking from the very core of her being. From where she was lying, Twilight could have sworn she was gleaming. Lyra lifted her body to stand on her forelegs, supporting her hind legs on the statue's midsection, looking up to its face. Her bright golden eyes saw the image reflected on their pupils. Four words broke the silence, as everypony was focused on the mare that was barely restraining herself from jumping up and down in overbearing glee.

"THIS. IS. A. HUMAN!"

Twilight rose and walked towards Lyra and the statue. She knew very little about the other unicorn, other than having seen her around sometimes, when she came to the library and put out books on ancient legends and music, or, for some reason, as one of Cadence's bridesmaids at the royal wedding. Catching up to them she brought out her best smile

"Hello. Your name is Lyra, right?"

The green mare beamed, lowering herself to floor level.

"Yes!" screamed the visibly excited Lyra, jumping next to to Twilight. "I'm Lyra Heartstrings and this," said she as her hoof pointed towards the stone "is a human, right?"

Lyra's filly-like excitement amused Twilight, who chuckled and nodded. "Yes, I think that's the most obvious answer for now. I found it in the Everfree Forest and was taking it to the library for study."

At hearing this, the musician's ears perked up, and she hopped in front of Twilight. She very much reminded the scholar of an overly hyped Pinkie Pie.

"Can I go with you, yes? Please!" pleaded the green unicorn, directing puppy eyes at Twilight, who couldn't take it.

"Yes, come on, I'd like to have a research partner."

"YES!"

"You'll have to help me take the statue back to the library, though. I'm pretty tired already. There's not much left to arrive."

Her partner nodded and two different magical glows grabbed the statue. Each mare walked at one side of the statue, to the amazement of everypony they met in their way. Upon arriving to the library, Twilight screamed

"Spike, please come open!"

The small dragon's voice could be heard from inside.

"Coming, Twi. I thought you'd take more time, what with..." his speech was cut off as he opened the door and saw what floated in front of him.

"Celestia, Twilight! What is that thing?"

"Let us go inside and we'll explain it properly, ok?" He finally looked to the side and saw Lyra, who despite being silent, oozed cheerfulness from every pore.

The statue was laid horizontally to fit the door and put on the middle of the room.

Twilight sat down on her haunches and exhaled a sigh.

"Spike, could you make something to eat? I'd like to have a small break, it's been tiring hauling this from the forest."

"Sure, boss, just give me a couple of minutes."

Lyra's ears deflated slightly and a pout formed in her lips. "Aww, I wanted to get to it right now…"

Twilight turned her head back, looking at her.

"Have a little bit of patience, Lyra." She mentally chuckled, thinking about how that would've sounded if she had said it to her old self of only some months ago.

Twilight levitated a book from one of the shelves. The big, old book fell on top of the table. _Ancient Equestrian legends and stories. _ Its pages were flipped by her magic until she found what she was looking for: a page which had an illustration covering half of it. The creature it represented resembled strongly the one they had in front of them, only its skin seemed to have some hair in the face and its clothes were very much different from the ones worn by the one standing in the library. The text offered one recollection from the tales that told of the strange race that had once stepped on Equestrian soil: humans.

"Some of these creatures were brought to Equestria… _in the time of Discord's reign?" _

Twilight's expression was soon changed to a frown as she read the scarce details available in the book. It did little to clear her mind. Next to her, Lyra sat with a confused look on her face

"Discord?"

Twilight looked at her. _Oh, right… _

She cleared her throat.

"There doesn't seem to be anything useful in these books, apart from the usual story… But I should be able to ask Princess Celestia about this."

Lyra's mouth opened in amazement again "It's gotta be cool be an Element of Harmony and the Princess' personal student!" Her expression became dead serious all of a sudden. "But does that mean we can't find out anything right now? I can't believe that… Oh, wait until I tell Bon Bon about this! Can I come back later, then?"

"Yes, you can come back later, Lyra. Now, I'm gonna write the letter and send it. Will see you later."

With that, the green mare waved goodbye and sped through the door, surprising some of the ponies that were spying through the library's windows. Twilight sighed, shutting the curtains.

"Spike, I need to send a letter!"


	3. History

A long time ago, the three pony races journeyed to find a new land that provided food and shelter, seeking freedom from the other two clans. Such a perilous enterprise was also foalish. Unicorns raised the sun and the moon, but could not grow food effectively: their magic was too taxed by such a titanic task, even performed between all of them. Earth ponies grew the food, but they needed the light of the sun and the clemency of the weather. Pegasi ruled the climate, but they required food and the guide through the season's cycles the sun and moon provided. The leaders of each tribe and their assistants departed on a journey that led them to the same patch of land; their fighting and bickering allowed the deadly Windigos to trap the leaders in ice. Only after the assistants made peace with each other, and shared love, were the cold devils thrown out and the rulers restored.

After that, the three races went on to associate and found the nation of Equestria together, under the watchful eyes of the Royal Sisters. That is the story as it is told in the Hearth's Warming Eve recollections, as well as in most history books. But this story contains a gap, which has been uncovered for the better part of two thousand years.

Each of the representatives went back to their respective populations and relayed their decision to share the land with the other two races. However, inside of each tribe, the desire to conquer the territory for themselves burned passionately. Unable to stop or convince, the leaders headed the movements, which found each other in the same place, ready for war. The conflict ravaged the new land with its ferocity. With the passing of days, ponies starved, falling all over the place, lacking any kind of food that could be grown. The weather, unchecked by its guardians, turned wild and unpredictable, with days of harsh sun and scorching heat, others of endless snow and unmerciful blizzards, and yet others of drowning rain.

Soon, ponies were at the brink of their absolute end, their remaining forces destroyed in spirit, their pride broken and gone. They were on the verge of forming an association with each other, to prevent the end of all races.

Unfortunately, something evil had been born, from the hatred, the chaos and the disharmony. A creature far more terrible than the windigos and without such ease of banishment, much less in the state the ponies were in.

This creature whose appearance was mismatched, its body including parts from ponies, as well as from other animals, even some they had never seen before. It transformed the snow into ice cream and the rocks into cakes, not wanting to see the ponies pass out from hunger, but to enjoy in their despair.

They survived among floating, upside—down floating mountains, huge butterflies, being transformed tiny, having to run for their lives from other animals and wandering ponies and many other chaotic misgivings. Days were figuratively long –for they could no longer discern accurately the passing of time.-

Among all these happenings, there was the opening of dimensional rifts across the space. From one of these rifts, three creatures came. They stood in two legs, were tall and hairless, except for a mane at the top of the head, and wore clothing that were surprisingly similar to that of the ponies, except adapted to their anatomy. Their language –for these creatures could speak- was somewhat similar to the equines' one. They were called humans, and upon entering the unknown land and seeing the ponies, and all that was happening around, they delivered to panic and fled from there. Nopony was in any right state to go after them, and they were forgotten.

The rampant chaos was unbearable. The draconequus, as the ponies had named the horrifying creature, sat upon a throne of distorted stone, relaxing. But as well as he had been spawned from the entrails of disharmony, the land sought for reparation.

Two ponies appeared from balls of light that descended from the sky. Once the blinding shine receded, they could be properly seen. They were no pegasus, nor where they unicorn or earth pony.

The first one was of a pure white, her mane overflowing with a cascade of pastel colors that merged into each other; she opened her eyes, which were of a pure violet. Her wings were larger than those of any pegasus, and her horn longer than that of any other unicorn. Her mark was the sun.

The second one was smaller in size, but still bigger than the average pony. Her body was all shades of blue, with her mane shining with what resembled the night stars. Her eyes were of a bright blue and her mark was a crescent moon.

The white pony spoke, her voice reverberating as they both landed at a certain distance of the draconequus. The creature looked at them; the ponies surrounding them didn't know what to make of it all, though the new arrivals irradiated a much warmer aura than the tyrant.

"Unsightly monster, thy name is Discord. Thou hast made the creatures suffer long enough, seeding chaos and unrest among the land. We will stop thee, as we were created to do."

"And just who might you be?" asked Discord, his voice laced with amusement, resting his chin in one of his paws.

"Our name is Celestia, and we were charged with the Sun" answered the white mare.

The dark pony followed suit, her voice just as booming. "And our name is Luna. We take care of the Moon.

Discord laughed, dancing around until he finally stopped. He posed dramatically and raised a claw, chanting, closing his eyes.

"Very interesting words do you say. And just how do you plan to achieve that? Chaos is…"

His words were heard no more, as while he delivered his monologue, both sisters charged their horns. They floated around, while a multicolored ray materialized itself and shot up to the sky, coming down in a heavy fall which covered him. The draconequus turned instantly into stone, leaving him ever trapped in that position.

Upon the encasing of Discord in his prison, most of the chaos that the land suffered dissipated: landmarks turned back properly, the weather turned sunny and clear, the creatures were transformed back to normality. But not all was corrected instantly. Discord was an embodiment of Chaos, not its master; and the force still flew around. A small piece of it incrusted itself into the Moon sister.

The newly arrived sisters helped restore the order in the next few months. Celestia raised the sun, which freed the unicorns from their task and from that moment on, allowed the development of magical sciences. Luna raised the moon. A few days later, the strange creatures that had been brought from the rift in space were found, and turned back. They were still nervous, but slowly adapted to pony society. One of them vanished without a trace three years after that; the other did so ten years later. The last one lived in the recently formed land of Equestria until his passing, many years later. They were documented as a curiosity in the books, while the Discord incident was mostly lost, except for a few books than remained in the possession of the sisters. One of those had been passed from Celestia to Twilight Sparkle after Discord's return and subsequent recapture.

Equestria prospered under the rule of the sisters, who guided the three races into the construction of the nation. Besides raising the Sun, Celestia was attuned to the Earth, being able to help the earth ponies develop their agricultural techniques. Luna presented an affinity to the sky, leading the pegasi in weather manipulation.

Inside both sisters were also present the powers of Harmony.

Celestia held the Magic, which permeated the whole country; she was its absolute master. Laughter, which manifested in her being willing to entertain her subjects, while remaining the royal pony they had taken her for, and kindness, which showed her empathy and caring nature towards every creature in Equestria.

Luna had the Generosity, which led her to gift the ponies with such presents as the constellations in the sky, so they could marvel at them, loyalty, which meant she would be there for everypony that needed her, and honesty, which made her the most trustable pony if you wanted a truthful opinion. However, even the most generous and loyal pony resented upon perceived neglect, and the piece of Chaos inside her ate her, slowly, but surely…

And they both encompassed the power of love, an unending love for their subjects.

A thousand years later, Luna finally gave into the calling of chaos and bitterness, transforming into the evil Nightmare Moon. Celestia saw herself forced to turn the Elements against her sister and banish her into her own place of power. The incident broke the connection of the Elements of Harmony which tore themselves from the sisters and turned into stone spheres, to be found and activated a millennium later by six different ponies, ensuring that such a breach would never happen again.


	4. A helping hoof

The sun was halfway through its morning routine, casting its light upon Ponyville behind some small cloud cover as Twilight lifted the quill and began to write the letter. Next to her, looking upon her shoulder, Lyra spied her, amazed.

"You can write letters directly to the Princess! That is, like, one of the most amazing things ever!"

The purple unicorn sighed internally. "Yes, Lyra, it is. Now, let's see…"

_Dear Princess Celestia_

_In a trip I made to the Everfree Forest, I found a strange statue in the path. Going by the legends that can be found in some books, and specially by the illustrations found in one book you lent me, I can only assume it is a human. However, it seems to have become a stone statue. I suspect a cockatrice was responsible to it. I want to study this creature, but I realized it would be better to inform you of it._

_Your faithful student_

_Twilight Sparkle_

Once she delivered the letter to Spike for sending, she turned to her side, in annoyance at being poked in the ribs by the musician.

"What?"

"Um, Twilight…" Lyra pointed to the outside to the library. The librarian turned her head to look around.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

Applejack and Fluttershy arrived to the Library's door to find that the building was full of ponies, a truly rare sight. Outside, Rainbow Dash and Rarity spied through one of the windows. The earth pony approached the peeking mares.

"What's all this ruckus goin' on in here, girls?"

"Well, darling, seems like Twilight new discovery has attracted the attention of the whole of Ponyville. One would ask what kind of free time these ponies have... By virtue of being here I'm already losing good work time, but one must simply know."

Applejack looked at her, smirking. "Uh, Rares, ya'll remember the Gabby Gums incident, don't cha?"

The white unicorn glared at her, before Pinkie Pie suddenly jumped between them. Rainbow screamed. "Gee, Pinkie Pie, when are you gonna stop that?"

The earth pony turned to look at her friend. "Oh, but Dashie, that just wouldn't be fun, would it?" She then shifted her attention to the whole group.

"Hi, girls! I saw you all were reunited in here and I was asking myself what was going on and I just had to come here and isn't that Twilight library full of ponies? Was there any party I wasn't invited to?"

The other girls rapidly corrected Pinkie's assumption hastily in their attempt not to bring her other self out again and explained to her the true cause of the crowd. The bubbly earth pony adopted a serious expression, supporting her chin with a hoof, scratching it with other two. Nopony bothered asking how that could even be possible, turning their attention back to the inside of the building.

Inside of the Ponyville Library, Twilight, Spike and Lyra were surrounded by what the librarian and her assistant summarized as "The Pony Hordes". Twilight always wished they would get more visitors, but didn't want them to come for such a reason. They were at a loss about what to do. Then, Lyra climbed to a table and whistled hard, gaining everypony's attention.

"Listen, colts and fillies. This is a place of order. You are disturbing it, and you all have seen the statue by now. There's nothing more for you to see here, so please make a line and exit orderly if you don't have any business in here!"

Following the musician's words, the crowd began to evacuate the tree based construction, some sighing heavily, throwing furtive looks at the interesting statue.

Once the local was almost deserted again, inside were only left Twilight, Lyra and Spike. The Mayor Mare and Bon Bon were the only ponies that did not leave. Right there the door opened and the group was completed by Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.

"Howdy, folks!"

"Hi, everypony!"

"That was some crowd you had there, Twi"

"Good morning, Twilight, Mayor. Lyra! It is truly delightful to see you here!"

Rarity beamed at the green unicorn, who bowed at the greeting, a sheepish smile in her face. Twilight looked from one to the other, a confused look etched on her face.

"You two know each other?"

Rarity used one of her high class little fake laughs. "Oh, Twilight, Lyra is one of the most talented musicians this side of Equestria. I've been to several of her concerts. She is quite the talented mare, indeed."

The musician blushed, trotting around in embarrassment. "Well, thanks. I love playing the lyre, that's all."

While the three unicorns conversed, the other ponies, including the mayor, approached the statue and studied it. Applejack whistled, looking up.

"So 'tis this what has the whole town all worked up? Ah admit is a new thing, but 's nothin' to blow yer hat off for…"

Fluttershy spoke softly. "But it's so weird, Applejack…"

"You say this is a human, Miss Sparkle?" asked the politician, looking at the scholarly unicorn. Twilight turned to look at her, already having heard quite enough about the musician.

"Well, all the signs point to that, so it's the most plausible theory. I wrote to Princess Celestia already, asking for her advice. If possible, though, I'd like to study it for a little longer. Lyra, Spike and I are looking in the books for possible de-petrification spells to reverse the effect and be able to talk directly to it. "

"Could I see it too, when it is freed from the stone? Being Mayor is so boring sometimes, and you and your friends are always in some exciting adventure…"

Twilight hesitated. "Well…" The elder mare battled her eyelids at her, and the lavender unicorn sighed.

"We could arrange something."

"I appreciate that, Miss Sparkle. I will take my leave now." The politician left the Library. Twilight bit her lip and turned back to her friends, who were watching Lyra and Bon Bon discussing something in the corner.

"You know very well I need to finish that batch today, and you promised to help me!" The earth pony mare was flushing red, directing her flaming anger towards her unicorn friend.

"Yes, Bon Bon, but these are humans, you know! Humans!" Lyra gesticulated wildly, pointing to the statue in the center of the room. Bon Bon turned to look at if, and scoffed..

"Well, that 'human' isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so you can come with me!"

"Aww, Bon Bon…"

"There's not 'Aww', Lyra!"

The other mares inside the library only watched the scene. Some embarrassed, others highly amused. Upon realizing they were being watched, the cream colored earth pony smiled them.

"I'm sorry about causing this ruckus in your library. Lyra promised to help me with my business and so she will have to leave now. If you excuse us…"

Bon Bon bit Lyra's tail and dragged her all the way to the Library's door. The green mare let out a small sigh before smiling and waving with enthusiasm to her recently acquired lavender unicorn friend.

"I'll be back later, Twilight! Take care!"

Both mares disappeared, leaving the remaining ones looking at the closed door in astonishment. Even Pinkie Pie was silent. Rarity was the first to recover.

"Well, that was certainly something new…"

Rainbow Dash confronted her studious friend.

"Well, now that the whole circle is in the house, how about if you explain it all properly, Twilight?"

Five mares gathered around, while Pinkie was looking all around for the circle. Twilight relayed the story to them, such as it was written down in the book. By the end of it, all her friends had their mouths open. They all considered the implications of what the story said.

Rainbow Dash held a frown on her face as her mind flashed to memories of a certain path in Ponyville that led to a slope finishing up in literally nothing. She and her friends had always wondered just how did such a seemingly useless and dangerous road came to exist, but now the thoughts of it being a subtle but effective 'suggestion' Chaos implanted in the mind of some pony architect were filling her head.

Twilight recalled, her ears dropping a little and she seemingly shrinking in size, her loss of control that led to the Smartypants incident.

Pinkie's hair deflated as she remembered her own sanity slippage during her birthday. They all remembered certain events, and they all came down to the same conclusion, looking at each other, without the need to speak. Twilight was the one who gave voice to their thoughts.

"All of these weird happenings around Ponyville… They have become stronger after Discord appeared. But he is sealed now…"

"Didn't yer book say that Chaos was its own entity, tho?"

"Yes, Applejack, it said that. And I'm worried about what that would mean for Ponyville. And for Equestria…"

The six friends looked again to the statue. It was immobile in the middle of the library, and its expression was far from menacing, but the things they had learn about it caused them to feel extremely nervous around it. They all slowly exited the library, wishing Twilight goodbye, after having agreed to wait for the Princess's answer to the letter. The studious unicorn gazed at an open book, her eyes circling back and forth as she passed the pages aimlessly.

"It can be that bad. We stopped all of those incidents, and the death rate in Ponyville is quite low, right?"

Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon shared a two story flat near Ponyville's Park. The first floor contained Bon Bon's Candy and Pastrie's Shop, as well as the kitchen-dining room and a room where both supplies for the shop and house items were stored. Adjacent to the kitchen were the stairs. Next to the stairs was Lyra's room, followed by a bathroom and Bon Bon's room. In the other side, a small study was used by Lyra as her music room.

Bon Bon's bedroom was a simple space. A small, cozy bed, accompanied by a bedside table, a closet containing formal clothes next to a window which watched over the street in front of the shop and a medium size mirror that hung on the opposite wall.

Lyra's room, on the contrary, had her clothing messily thrown in a trunk below her equally messy bed. Posters depicting famous musician ponies were posted all around the walls, leaving almost nothing bare.

In the music room, several instruments were lying around in their cases. A desk pressed against a wall guarded Lyra's music sheets, ink and paper. Such was the disposition of their shared, rented apartment.

Downstairs, a stressed earth pony mare mixed ingredients and prepared copious amounts of pudding, as her unicorn friend levitated what was needed from the storage room. The next day, the Ponyville School would be holding a PTA meeting and they had requested large amounts of pudding. Ponies loved eating pudding.

Lyra sighed, watching the outside as Bon Bon went from one side to the other, checking pots and mixing batter. The earth pony chided the unicorn.

"Quit whining, you owed me from cleaning the mess left by your last practice. You can have the leftover when I'm done!"

This seemed to animate Lyra as her ears perked up and her tail swatted around.

"You're the best, Bon! " The earth pony smiled, as the unicorn's face lighted up. She trotted over to her friend. "Hey, Bon, could I take one cup of pudding to take to Twilight?"

"Yeah, sure, but take only one, ok?"

Lyra nuzzled Bon Bon's cheek, almost making her drop a tray she was carrying.

"**Mind yourself, Lyra!"**

An hour and a half later, the work was finally over. Both ponies were resting at the table in the dining room, drinking cold orange juice. Lyra finished first and took her glass to the kitchen. Her head appeared in the doorframe as she walked past.

"Hey, Bon, I'm going over to Twilight!" The unicorn waved goodbye

"Sure. Just don't be too late out, remember that you have to practice tomorrow and a concert on Sunday."

"Yep, I'm on it! Bye!"

The unicorn sped like a flash out of the shop, leaving behind an earth pony with a small smile on her lips.

"Oh, Lyra…"

Lyra trotted happily in the path to the Library. The dessert floated by her side, wrapped in a lemony yellow glow, while her mind was occupied with thoughts of humans and their wonderful secrets. She sped up, covering the rest of the distance quickly. She knocked at the door, being answered by an annoyed voice.

"Come on! Gee, when will these ponies learn that this is a PUBLIC library?"

Lyra pushed the door, to find Spike the small dragon at the other side of it. A small sweat drop fell down her forehead.

"Hey, Spike, want pudding?" said her, hopeful

"Oh, sure, thank you!" Spike reached out with his arms; Lyra levitated the small dessert into his claws.

"You're welcome! Where's Twilight?"

"Oh, I think she'll come back soon, she went to Sweet Apple Acres."

"Right. Do you mind if I sit over there?"

"Suit yourself," answered Spike, going back to his task of organizing books. "You know, that pudding was awesome. It was as good as..."

Just before he could finish his sentence, a pink blur manifested in the middle of them, and Spike found himself turned on his back, and with Pinkie Pie's forelegs on his chest. The pink Earth Pony looked at him, a marked frown in her face.

"Do you think Bon Bon's sweets are better than mine?"

The small dragon hesitated. "Um, I think they're both very good."

She looked at him with the same expression during some more seconds. Then she lowered her forelegs and freed Twilight's assistant, who stood up hastily.

"I'm going to challenge Bon Bon to a pastry contest!" declared the earth pony with a chirp, before going out of the tree with her particular bounce, as if nothing had happened there. Lyra looked at her leaving in confusion.

"Just what happened here?"

"Don't ask me. She's Pinkie Pie."

As Lyra pondered this, the door opened again and Twilight came inside.

"Oh, hello, Lyra, nice to see you again," said the lavender unicorn with a wide smile. Her green counterpart smiled as well, brushing any thought about Pinkie out of hr mind.

"Good to see you too, Twilight. I brought you a dessert, but I gave it to Spike, sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Spike deserved it truly."

"So," said Lyra as her tail flipped around "are we going to study the human now?"

The purple unicorn looked at her. "Well, about that. I don't think it's such a good idea right now, Lyra."

The musician's lip formed a pout, as she approached the librarian. "But why not? I've been waiting so much for this! Come on, Twilight!"

Twilight bit her lip, looking at the other unicorn. Finally she summoned a book that was on top of the desk.

"Come here, Lyra. I have something to tell you."

The clocks around the village made exactly one turn just as Twilight's briefing to Lyra of everything about Discord and the general situation ended. The green mint unicorn, despite her flighty nature, paid attention to everything. At the end of Twilight's long exposition, a single word came out of Lyra's lips.

"And?"

Twilight looked at her, flabbergasted. "What do you mean 'and'?"

"Yes. Are we going to turn the human back to normal now, or what?"

"But… didn't you just hear me? That is a very dangerous step. It could be an agent of Chaos. Who knows what could befall upon Equestria!"

The musician fell down, sitting upon her haunches and looked at Twilight as if looking at a very slow pony who needed to have things explained thoroughly.

"Don't the stories say that humans did exactly nothing but live in Equestria for the time they were allotted? Sure, they got here because of a rift caused by chaos, but they themselves caused nothing!"

Twilight could only look at Lyra as the musician ranted on.

"And even if something happened, aren't you the Elements of Harmony who purged Nightmare Moon out of Princess Luna? Aren't you the bane of Discord himself? Didn't you participate in the battle at Canterlot Castle, and freed me from the Changelings' control? What's one measly human compared to you, huh? Don't be a coward. For science!"

As she pronounced the last few words, she rose up, standing on her hind hooves; her forehooves lifted up. The sunlight didn't accompany her, but it was a very inspiring sight indeed. Or so she would have hoped. She came back to stand on four legs and looked at Twilight, who kept looking blankly at her. Until the lavender unicorn showed a bit of a smirk, which soon morphed into all-out laughter; she rolled on the floor until running out of air, at which point she stopped, gasping.

"That was incredibly silly, Lyra," said Twilight as she regained her footing, dusting herself and trotting over to the spell books. She began levitating them out, placing them on one of the tables.

"But you're right, we need to study them to really understand what they are. Come here; help me find some spells…"

Outside of a certain pastry shop, a pink pony came to a halt. She called out to the pony inside.

"Hey, Bon Bon, could you come out here a moment, please?"

The called earth pony trotted out, looking at her visitant. She smiled at seeing Pinkie Pie.

"Hey, Pinkie. What does bring you around…."

Bon Bon fell silent when she found Pinkie's hoof pressed to her snout.

"Hey, Bon Bon. Do you feel like having a contest with me to see who's the Premier Pastry Pony in Ponyville?"

"What do you mean?" asked the confused cream colored mare, looking at the wild pink blob in front of her.

"I challenge your desserts with mine, of course. And the winner will have her pastries made by the loser for a whole month!"

Bon Bon looked at her, incredulously. "What kind of insane thing is this, Pinkie?"

The pink pony retorted. "Just say if you accept or not."

Bon Bon sighed and accepted the challenge, if only because of having heard the rumors about the pink mare.

"Very well, Pinkie. I'm on."


	5. One such Friday

The sound of pages being passed carelessly filled the room. Lifting the head from her own book, Twilight Sparkle looked at her temporary assistant.

"Lyra, you're going to damage the book that way."

The other unicorn closed the book with a loud thump, which made the librarian wince.

"Sorry, Twilight. I'm not accustomed to look for spells in books. Truth be told, I'm decent with the levitation spell and have enough dexterity to manipulate my instrument. Nothing much else. Which reminds me that I have a practice session tomorrow." The musician looked out of the window, seeing the moon beginning to reign over the sky.

"I should probably be getting back home soon."

Twilight waved a hoof, dismissing her. "That's ok, Lyra. Also, I want to go and talk to Zecora tomorrow in the morning, so I think this issue will be left for the afternoon. Is that ok?"

The green mint mare smiled. "Totally ok, Twilight See you tomorrow. You too Spike, have a good night!"

Both waved her goodbye and she left the library, at a slow, but happy pace. Inside the building, Twilight put a pile of books apart.

"Well, I think that's fine for now. How about having some dinner, Spike?"

"Already on it, boss," answered the dragon assistant, leading Twilight towards the kitchen. She followed him, one of the chosen books levitating by her side. She checked it while waiting for the meal, writing down small notes, as well as during eating. She finished eating and put the book down back in the library table, guarding her notes. She climbed upstairs to prepare herself to bed; it had been quite the long day for her.

-

The cold air of the night brushed against Lyra's coat. The musician shook a little. Her path was illuminated by the high lamps across the street, as well as by the lights coming fron the windows of the houses; most ponies were now resting in the comfort of their homes.

Living in a small town brought such bliss. She walked slowly and the sight of the town half covered in shadows brought her memories. She tuned out the voices that pushed from the back of her mind, whistling one of her favorite tunes to help her, and made it to the apartment. The lights in the first floor were on, and she went inside. From the kitchen, she heard her friend's voice.

"Lyra, did you eat already? Dinner will just take some more minutes now."

Lyra's smile turned broader and she entered into the room.

"Good night, Bon Bon. What's dinner today?" Just as she asked that question, the smell coming from the oven filled her nose. The earth pony mare answered without turning back.

"'Today's dinner is grilled corn from the Apple farm, with butter, and some leftover pudding as dessert. Here, take this to the table."

The plates holding the corn were levitated straight to the table, followed by the pudding. They both sat down. Lyra assisted Bon Bon in holding the cob.

"Pinkie Pie challenged me to a pastry contest, did you know?" asked Bon Bon, between bites, without taking her eyes away from the corn. Lyra looked up to her curiously.

"True, I had forgotten about that," said the musician. Now the earth pony looked up and met the unicorn's eyes questioningly.

Lyra lowered the corn down to her plate. "Well, she appeared this evening at the library and almost puffed all the air out of Spike, asking him if he believed that your desserts were better than hers…"  
Bon Bon looked at her surprised. "Lyra, what do you think about Twilight Sparkle?" blurted she all of a sudden.

"Why do you ask that?" The green unicorn tilted her head, her ears falling down just a little. The earth pony bit her lip, meditating before answer.

"Well, I've heard… that the Elements of Harmony are somewhat unbalanced…"

There was no answer from the musician. Both ponies decided then to rise from the table and go upstairs to prepare for the night.

"Good night, Lyra," said the pastry pony, after coming out of the bathroom.

"Good night, Bon Bon," answered the unicorn, occupying that room herself. Soon after, she entered her room and laid herself down to sleep.

-

Applejack woke up as usual in the Friday morning. The cold air of early morning greeted her as she went outside the house, preparing for her job. She hauled a cart full of baskets to one of the far off sections of the apple orchard and organized the baskets. Putting her hooves to work, she spent forty five minutes bucking, before taking the full bushels to the barn and going into the house to eat breakfast. Granny Smith and Apple Bloom were already sitting at the table, and her older brother followed her through the door. The whole family reunited, they blessed their meal and started to eat.

After finishing, Apple Bloom went to school, the two older siblings went back to their obligations in the farm and Granny Smith took care of the kitchen. The sun was already high in the sky when an earth pony mare appeared in the path to Sweet Apple Acres. Bon Bon crossed the farm's gate and went over to the house, knocking on its door. Almost a couple of minutes later, the door opened and the eldest Apple greeted her.

"Why, hullo, young un'. What can Ah do fer ya today?"

"Good morning, Granny Smith," answered Bon Bon with a soft voice. "I'm looking for Applejack. Is she here?"

The old pony trotted over to the door, Bon Bon turning around to follow her.

"Well, Sugarcube, my dear granddaughter is over there in them fields." The Apple matriarch pointed to a hill at the left of the house, which rose well over it. She whistled hard, and from behind the house appeared a collie dog, barking happily.

"Hey there, Winona. Take this young un' to where Applejack is. Go now, girl!" Winona began a soft trot, mindful of her companion. Granny Smith nudged Bon Bon. "Hush now, Sugarcube, follow her."

"Thank you, Granny Smith."

The younger earth pony followed the dog, who ran happily across the fields and went up the hill.  
Soon they were among uncountable apple trees; Bon Bon did her best to not lose Winona's track. Finally, the collie began barking loudly after what seemed to be fifteen or twenty minutes. A loud voice answered from somewhere.

"Winona! What's it, girl? Come here!"

The sweet maker noticed then the baskets surrounding the trees around them. Some were full of apples; others farther from her were empty. Following the collie turning between two trees, they found the orange farmer, whose face offered a brief surprise when she saw the other earth pony.

"Howdy, Bon Bon! We don't see you much around here, you usually buy the apples in the market What to I owe to this pleasure, Sugarcube?" asked Applejack while nuzzling the dog, who barked affectively and swatted her tail vigorously.

"Well, you see, Applejack, I received a visit from Pinkie Pie yesterday…"

"And that's what you visit me for, Sugarcube?" the farmer now adopted an expression of curiosity in her face, looking up to her interlocutor.

"Well, Applejack… She appeared from nowhere and challenged me to a sweet making contest. I did not know what to do, so I accepted. And I still don't know what happened, so I thought I'd ask you. You're one of her best friends, and the one I know better. Please help me, Applejack."

The addressed pony played with the brim of her hat, looking at her. "Did Pinkie say nothing more ta ya, Bon Bon?"

Bon Bon shook her head. Applejack stretched her lips a little and looked to the mare in front of her. "Well, Ah'll talk to the girls and we'll talk to Pinkie. Don't you worry none, Sugarcube, this'll be alright. Now, if you excuse me, Ah've got many baskets to fill down here. Ah'll talk to you when Ah've got something, right?"

Bon Bon nodded silently and after waving bye to Applejack, she trotted out to the farm and into town again, preparing for another day.

-

It was around mid-morning when Twillight Sparkle set off once again for the Everfree Forest. She once again met many ponies in her way out of the town, though strangely, no Pinkie Pie. The bouncy Earth Pony could often be found jumping around with seemingly little cares about the world, but she was missing today. Twilight shook it off and went by the road that led to the forest, going near Fluttershy's cottage. The pegasus was out watering her flowers, when she saw her friend approaching. She put the pail down and trotted over to her, a little smile in her lips.

"Hello, Twilight. Good to see you today."

"Good to see you, Fluttershy. Are you doing well today?" The shy pegasus nodded, making her smile a little wider.

"I'm just here watering my plants and spending a small, nice time with my animal friends. You know, I think that the little small times that we just used to have are things of the past. We're almost always rushing off to somewhere, fighting an evil entity or something… I very much like today."

The unicorn smiled serenely. "I can see what you mean, Fluttershy. Well, I hope the rest of your day goes just as well. I'm off to see Zecora."

"I hope you have a good day too, Twilight. Good luck." Both friends dedicated a smile to each other and the unicorn continued her walk. Zecora had given her some pointer on how to avoid the most dangerous creatures of the Everfree.  
She walked slowly but constantly and kept an ear out for the sounds of the forest. She had also sought and learnt a reflective spell, so that the cockatrice incident did not happen again. She arrived to the zebra's home and knocked on it. Almost immediately, the door opened.

"Good morning, Twilight. To see you is always a delight." The striped mare beckoned the unicorn to come inside. Twilight complied, shutting the door behind her. The inside of the hut was the same as always, but the cauldron was quiet and unmoving.

"You're not preparing anything now, Zecora?" asked Twilight, looking around curiously. Zecora negated with her head.

"The cauldron has been shot down, it is time to feed the crown," answered the zebra, pointing with her hoof towards a book resting open on a table, beside some others. Twilight trotted over and levitated the open book, looking at its tittle before carefully putting it back on the table. History of Equestrian Magic

"I know this one! I read it some months back, it's good!" Twilight smiled excitedly. Zecora had put some water to boil; while waiting she turned to look at Twilight.

"You told me something about a human creature. Have you find anything about this new feature?"

"Well, there's a legend I found in a book. I have to ask Princess Celestia about it, though."

"Even if it's a little bit, can you tell me about it?"

"Yes, of course." Twilight relayed the whole story to Zecora, who listened attentively the whole time. Upon finishing, she nodded.

"Quite a story have you found. I wonder if it does have any ground. Well, until you ask the Princess, I suppose there's no progress." She trotted over, putting the water down and pouring it into the teapot.

"Yes…" Twilight dived deep into thought, until she finally broke out of it, shaking her head. "So, Zecora, will you teach me about herbs and potions? I wasn't able to ask properly last time."

The zebra smiled. "I'll be happy to, indeed, teach everything you need. Let's have a line, are weekend mornings fine?"

"Yes, I think that's appropriate."

Zecora finished preparing the tea and served it in two cups. They finished the visit enjoying the hot beverage. Twilight said goodbye to her friend and exited the hut, taking the path back to Ponyville.

-

Lyra rolled around in her bed for a while. She finally came to consciousness and opened her eyes. She stretched her hooves and got out of bed, walking lazily. After washing herself, she threw a look out of the music room's window. The sun outside was already high. She exited the room; there was no sign of Bon Bon around. Going downstairs, she discovered a couple of sandwiches with jelly in the table along with fresh milk. She took breakfast and went back upstairs, deciding to begin practice.

Closing the door of the study, she shut the curtains down and turned the lights on, levitating some sheets to her, along with her lyre. Pining down the sheets to a board in the wall, she began pulling the strings via her magic. The music soon began filling the room and she let herself go free, like going in a boat down some rapids.

She finally put the instrument down. Putting everything on the table, she looked out of the window and saw that the sun had advanced a little outside. She noted down the need to have a clock upstairs somewhere. Going out of the room she heard movement downstairs and descended. Bon Bon was selling a piece of carrot cake to Whooves. She waved to him.

"Hey, Whooves, I hadn't seen you in a while!"

He nodded and put the slice down in the counter. "I had to accompany my cousin from Manehatten to do an assignment over there. My brother should be coming back soon, so I have to go and pick him up."

"Your family's always the busy one, eh?" chuckled Lyra.

"You can bet. Well, gotta go. Time waits for nopony!" He picked up his cake, waved goodbye to the two mares and trotted off. Bon Bon turned back to her friend.

"Well, good morning. I assume you've practiced now?"

"You've got that right. Thanks for the breakfast, by the way."

"You're welcome," said the earth pony, turning around to serve another pony. "So, I assume you're going to the library?"  
Lyra swatted her tail. "Yep!"

"That's fine. Remember that tomorrow is your turn to do house cleaning and cook, ok?"

"You've got it, Bon! Bye!" Lyra stopped to hug her friend, and then jumped out towards the Library. She arrived there and opened the door, finding Spike dusting books.

"Hey, Lyra! What's up!"

"Oh, hi, Spike. I'm fine and you?"

"Fine too, just fine. Twilight's not here, you know. She must still be at Zecora's house."

"Zecora, the zebra?"

"That's the one, yes."

"She lived in the Everfree Forest, right?"

"Uhum," answered the distracted dragon, going back to his chores. Lyra turned back, trotting out of the door.

"Thanks, Spike, I'll go over there!" She broke into gallop going towards the Forest's entry.

"Hello, Pinkie" called Bon Bon quietly, looking at the pink mare that had just arrived at her shop doing small jumps and landed right in front of her counter.

"Hello, Bon Bon, are you doing fine?" Pinkie's high pitched voice resounded squeaky in the other earth pony's head. Bon Bon brought out her best smile.

"Yes, everything's going fine. How about you?" Bon Bon spoke slowly; those blue eyes were locked into hers. Pinkie smiled widely, but she couldn't help but feel unnerved.

"Oh, I'm good, pretty good. I just wanted to ask if Monday seemed a good day for the contest." The pink pony's smile grew even wider.

"Yes, I think that'll be good. So, see you in Monday?"

"Okie Dokie Lokie!" chirped the pink mare, turning her back to leave. "See you, Bon!" She went away, jumping.

Bon Bon just stared into the counter. She was brought out of it by a tap into the counter's glass. She looked down and saw a small unicorn filly looking up to her.

"Oh, hello, Dinky. What can I do for you today?"

Sitting in the border of the Forest was boring. Minutes passed and Lyra just stared into the trees. She was beginning to consider that perhaps a crazy adventure with the wild creatures that lived inside there wouldn't be such a bad idea, when a shape emerged from its depths. The musician jumped and went to the scholar's encounter.  
"Hey, Twilight!"

"Hi, Lyra. How are you today?" Lyra turned so as to follow the purple unicorn.

"Everything's fine, I just had a little practice…." The mint green unicorn's face shone alight with an idea. "Hey, would you like to see me playing? I have a concert this Sunday evening, Manne Theathre in Canterlot. I can give you an entry."

Twilight considered this. She spent most of her Sunday evenings and nights cataloguing books. It had been quite some time since she had last assisted to a concert.

"You have a deal there, Lyra."

_"Twilight!"_

Both unicorns stopped in their tracks when the voice resounded out from nowhere. Almost after it, a yellowish glow covered the nearest area in the sky. After it diminished, the majestic presence of Princess Celestia made itself known. Celestia landed in front of the two mares. Lyra fell into a bow while Twilight advanced towards her.

"Princess! Are you here because of the human?"

The Princess of the Sun looked down towards her protégé with a neutral expression on her face.

"That's exactly why I'm here, Twilight."


	6. Sweets and Stars

"Good morning, Twilight. Have you been doing fine lately?" asked the royal mare, when her student stopped at her side. The unicorn smiled and nodded.

"Yes, Princess. I've been researching de-petrifying spells and I'm also going to learn about herbs and potions with Zecora." The purple unicorn gained an enormous smile with each word. Lyra looked at her, measuring just how much her new friend loved studying. It reminded her very much of her own approach to music, and an involuntary smile invaded her face.

Celestia then turned to face her. "Hello, Lyra, is good to see you as well. I haven't seen you since the Wedding, if I recall correctly."

The green mare retreated a little feeling the monarch's gaze upon her. "Yes, Your Highness. You may call on me, though, if you want. I'll be giving a speech in Canterlot on Sunday night."

Celestia considered this. "Yes, I've heard about that one. I'm not sure I might assist to it, however. Don't worry, we'll fix something up. Now, I understand that you are accompanying Twilight with her research?" Her gaze returned briefly to her student, who only followed the conversation and then back to the musician, who nodded.

"Yes! Well, I've always been interested in humans, and I wanted to see them so much! Besides, I think Twilight's cool!"

Celestia laughed heartily and lowered her head to Lyra's level. She whispered in her ear.  
"That's fine, my dear. Even though Twilight has found very good friends since she came to Ponyville, she's so lonely when she's studying. I hope you keep her some company, right?""

The Princess lifted her head again and smiled wordlessly. Lyra just answered the same way. Twilight frowned a little, unaware of the message that had been passed between the two mares. Celestia addressed her again.

"How about we go back to the Library? I'd like to discuss this properly and the edge of the forest doesn't seem to be the best place for it." Twilight agreed with her.

"Let's go back."

The three mares walked the path leading to the town proper. When passing by the side of Fluttershy's cottage, the shy pegasus was tending to some of her plants outside. Celestia waved a hoof to her and she answered meekly. During their walk, they were met by most of the population of Ponyville, including Mayor Mare, who kept Celestia occupied for twenty minutes asking about all sorts of things. When they finally made it to their destination, it was well past lunchtime.

"Sorry, Twilight. I didn't know you'd be having two guests and I did only prepare for you and me. Let's see what I can pull off now." The small dragon turned back into the kitchen and set to work. Celestia approached the statue and inspected it, with the two unicorns standing behind her.

"It's been two thousand years now..."

"What do you know about humans, Princess?"

Celestia broke her gaze apart from the statue and turned to look at Twilight, who was looking at her inquisitively. She smiled internally. No matter how much time passed, the small unicorn in front of her would always be the same. She turned completely and stood before the two unicorns.

"You read about what happened in the book I gave you, didn't you?"

"Of course."

"Then I'll tell you that I know very few about them. In the days after Discord was vanquished and Equestria was beginning to be established, Luna and I spent most of our time overseeing the development of the new lands ponies would use as their home. We had very few moments to spend them investigating about three creatures that didn't belong in our land. That said, we did keep an eye on them, having been thrown here by Chaos, we could not afford to leave them unchecked. But the bulk of what has been registered in the books about them is the work of unicorns. They are counted among the researches conducted by Star Swirl and Clover, as I'm sure you know."

The royal mare was about to continue, when Spike's voice resounded in the Library, calling them to lunch.

"How about we continue this after lunch? I must admit I'm quite hungry, and I'm sure you two are as well."

Both of the unicorns' stomach rumbled in response, and they shared a laugh before going to eat. Once they finished, they all came back to the main room, including Spike.

"Between that, and the few time two of them passed among us, we couldn't learn much about them."

"Well, that I can understand, Princess," said the scholarly mare, looking at the statue. Celestia also fixed her gaze on it.

"I'm going to take the statue to the Palace, Twilight."

Both unicorns took some time before processing the Princess words. Lyra jumped to the front, waving her hooves erratically.

"But why would you do that, Princess? You can't do that!"

Celestia looked at her, and Twilight was quick to put herself between them. "Let me handle this, Lyra." She advance two steps towards her mentor. "Why did you decide this, Princes?"

"'Why did I decide this', Twilight? Are you really asking me?" She pointed a hoof towards the stone figure. "It hasn't been that much time, comparatively, since Discord was sealed again. Chaos is a strong force affecting Equestria right now. We don't even know how much did it have to do with the Changeling invasion. And you ask me why do I decide this? I don't believe that humans are evil per se, in the few time I've interacted with them, they didn't give such signs, but Chaos is a destructive force, and we don't know where it coulde be seeded. We don't know..."

Celestia fell silent. Certain images flashed before her eyes. A voice boomed all over, and the sky turned deep dark.

_**NOT ANYMORE, MY SISTER! **_

She shook her head energetically and came back to the present. Twilight and Lyra were looking at her in silence; Lyra's foreleg pawing at the floor.

"I'm sorry. Twilight..." began Celestia, before being interrupted by her student.

"I know about that, Princess. I truly know," said the purple mare, looking directly into her mentor's violet eyes. "But we can't know that, really. It might happen, and it might not happen." She approached Celestia even more, without deviating her eyes from the royal mare for a second. "Besides, I know what are you thinking about... And that took a real, extremely long time to happen. More that it would have." Upon hearing those words, the alicorn trembled slightly. Very imperceptible for any normal pony to see, but Twilight had spent time next to her since her foalhood. She could read Celestia's unreadable deviations. "And if something were to happen, I'd immediately send  
you a notice. You know you can trust me, Princess. Please let me do this..."

Not once did Twilight's gaze wander away as she spoke. Several seconds passed as they looked at each other. Lyra and Spike, who had only recently come into the room, only witnessed the scene as both wills were confronted. Celestia's mouth opened again, but Twilight spoke first.

"I know I often don't think about things and end up making everything worse, necessitating big efforts to solve the situation." Twilight paused a moment, letting the words be registered. She took a deep breath. "But I'm also your student, and by this point, I think that some trust has been gained, hasn't it, Princess? Or should I quote the Wedding's events?"

The words came in torrents out of the unicorn's mouth, flowing and filling her Princess's ears. Celestia closed her eyes, and Twilight backed a couple of steps.

Twilight Sparkle was not one who would talk back to her mentor in such a way. In all her years of studying under Celestia's wing, figuratively as well as literally, never had such an incident happened. A musician unicorn and a dragon held their breath, while Twilight looked forth, impassive, and Celestia meditated. Finally, the Princess opened her eyes and looked back at her protege.

"You are right, of course, Twilight. I will leave the statue here with you. Be careful, will you?"

The purple mare relaxed, and nodded. "I will be, Princess." Student and teacher walked towards each other and shared a hug. They separated at last. Celestia looked at Lyra, smiling. "Remember what I asked of you, Lyra. "

The other unicorn nodded and smiled. "Of course, Princess."

Celestia said goodbye to everyone in the room, and left the Library, taking flight to Canterlot. After her departure, Twilight and Spike turned back to the green mint unicorn.

"What did she tell you?" asked Twilight, approaching her. Lyra shook her head, her mane flying around freely.

"Nope, not telling."

"Oh, come on, Lyra!"  
"No, you come on! We have a lot to do!"

-

Just when Twilight was about to open one of the books, though, the Library's door was opened again. Nopony but Applejack was the one that came inside the building.

"Hullo, Twilight! We need you..." Applejack stopped mid-sentence when she saw the other unicorn present in the room. Her eyes opened in surprise. "Ya're here as well. Looks like we'll be killin' two birds with a stone."

Twilight, Lyra, and Spike looked at her, bemused.

"Why would we do that, Applejack?"

"Well, Sugarcube, 's just... Oh, nevermind, no time fer explainn' now. Look, we have an emergency reunion. The girls are reunited now in the Boutique. Care to come for a little, Twilight, Lyra? Ah'll explain there, tho' Ah believe ya'll need no explainin', Sugarcube." Applejack addressed Lyra, whose face took on an understanding expression and soon followed the earth pony through the door.

"What was that about?" asked the small dragon, looking at the door.

"I don't know, but I need to go and find out. Take care of the library, ok?"

"Is what I always do..."

Twilight raced to the door, and waved a hoof to her little assistant. "I'll ask Rarity for a gem for you!"

Twilight arrived at the Boutique's door and knocked at it. Rarity's sing-song voice answered. "Come on in, darling!"

She opened the door and crossed the threshold, closing behind her. Applejack and Lyra were already there, as were Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and,surprisingly, Bon Bon. Pinkie Pie shone by her absence. She looked from one side to the other, taking in the scene.

"What's the matter, girls?"

Her friend were silent. The cream colored earth pony stepped in front of the group and talked.

"You see, Twilight," said Bon Bon gravely, "your friend Pinkie Pie came to my shop and from out of nowhere, challenged me to a pastry contest. And now, she's decided that it'll be this Monday. I couldn't find it in me to stop her, despite the fact that I should've had done so immediately and completely. Now, I don't know what to do..." Her voice lowered then, just a few levels above from a whisper. "I thought you, as her friends, could help me..."

Lyra walked over to her friend and put a hoof around her neck. "Hey, Bon, I know everything's gonna be fine."

"I hope you're right, Lyra." The earth pony looked at the friends that were reunited, who in turn looked at each other. Twilight cleared her throat.

"Well, it seems that Pinkie is going that way _again...,_" declared the purple unicorn. Four heads nodded.

"We're gonna have to rescue her once again."

"Boy, here we go..."

"Um, I hope she's not too upset."

Five sets of hooves abandoned the boutique. One quite distinctive voice called up to them over the noise. "Could you please close behind you when you leave? Thank you!"

Bon Bon and Lyra watched the door closing in front of them. The earth pony turned to look at the unicorn.

"Well, that's some friend you have gotten yourself there, eh Lyra?"

The green unicorn drew out a sheepish smile.

-

The Cakes were behind the counter, attending some ponies that visited the shop, when the bell rang and the door opened, letting Twilight Sparkle in. She trotted over to them.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Cake. Is Pinkie Pie around?"

"Well, she is, but she is a little busy right now, preparing a cake and baking it. I think she'll be free in around forty minutes."

"I understand. In that case, we'll wait outside." Cup Cake nodded, while dispatching the last pony. Twilight looked at the glass display.

"Can you give me five slices of this pumpkin pie, Mr. Cake?"

The baker , and a minute after Twilight trotted out with a bag floating at her side.

"Pinkie can't come out to play, girls, but I brought sweets."

The five ponies sat down to wait, chatting among themselves.

"Hey,girls! You were looking for me?"

Everypony jumped as a pink blur sprung out from among the group. Five voices shouted as one.

**"PINKIE PIE!"**

"Thats's me! That's me! Oh, is this a game?" Pinkie pointed a hoof towards her pink maned pegasus friend. "FLUTTERSHY!"

Rainbow Dash and Applejack facehoofed while the unicorns groaned. Fluttershy approached the pink mare. "Um, no, Pinkie... We just wanted to talk a little... if that's ok with you, I mean..."

The bouncing pony stopped, calming a little. "Oh, it was that? What's it about, girls?"

Fluttershy continued. "Well, Pinkie.. Bon Bon told Applejack that you had challenged her to a pastry contest. Is that true?"  
The addressed mare nodded vigorously, shaking her head and mane. "Yup!"

Now Applejack intervened. "Now why in tarnation would'ya do that, Sugarcube?"

"Well, I just wanted you to say that my desserts are the most delicious!" Her ears were slightly down, but the rest of her was just as normal.

"But, Pinks, you know that we think that. What need is there to prove that?" asked the chromatic pegasus.

"Well, that's what you say, but I really, reallly want you to say who makes better sweets!"

Her hair was beginning to deflate. All around her began to sweat. Twilight came forward.

"We understand, Pinkie, but..." Twilight was interrupted as the baker jumped forward, and addressed them before entering the shop.

"Sorry, there's work to do! I'll wait for you on Monday, right?" Pinkie disappeared through the door, leaving only the ringing bell behind her.

The five mares outside looked at the business door, stunned.

"Well, horseapples. Now what are we gonna do?" asked Applejack, turning to her friends. "Somehow, Ah don't think she's gonna listen ta us..."

Twilight sighed and looked around. "Sometimes, you have to take the problem up to its logical extent..."

Rarity looked at her. "You mean that we let her go on with her insane enterprise?"

"I can't think of anything else... Let's go and talk to Bon Bon, shall we?"

The five mares sighed and went to look for the candy maker.

"What do you mean I have to go along with this?" shrieked Bon Bon, upon listening to the group. They retreated one step, wincing. Twilight answered to her.

"Sorry, Bon Bon, but as she is so fixated with you, I don't think we can solve this problem... We are going to support you, though. We'll give you what you need for the contest and help you with what you need. Is that right?"

"Whatever ya need fer yer preparations I'll give you, Sugarcube, ok?" Applejack tipped her hat to her, an apologetic smile on her face.

Bon Bon looked at her. Lyra was by her side, and in turn looked at her earth pony friend. Finally Bon Bon sighed.

"I sure hope this ends on Monday, hopefully without having to go and work on Pinkie's desserts. I don't know what I'm going to do if it goes on."

"We're sorry, Bon Bon, but as I said, we'll support you. Isn't that right, girls?"

The other four ponies nodded.

"Thanks, I guess. That's pretty good. Now excuse me, I have things to take care of." She turned back to them and trotted inside. Lyra looked back at Twilight.

"Sorry, Twilight, I guess I'll see you soon. Thanks you all!" The green unicorn followed her friend inside. The scholar turned to her friends.

"Well, it's time for us to come back, too."

-

Night fell upon Ponyville. Twilight was upstairs, preparing her astronomy equipment. She didn't want to stay up too late that night, as the next day she would have her big first day with Zecora. A knock resounded on the library's door.  
"Spike, open up, please!" called the unicorn down, cleaning her telescope.

"I'm on it, Twilight!" The baby dragon went to open the door and found Lyra on the other side, smiling at him, a bag in her mouth.

"Hi Shpike! Ish Twilgh arnd?" She lowered her head to drop the bag in his arms. "Sorry, I brought some sweets for you. Is Twilight around?"

The dragon shrugged. "All's cool. Twilight's upstairs. Let me call her." He went to one of the tables, leaving the bag in there, and screamed. "TWILIGHT, LYRA'S HERE!"

From upstairs, her voice replied. "TELL HER TO COME HERE!"

He turned to the musician and pointed up with his thumb. "You heard the boss. I'm off to bed now." With that, he grabbed the bag and hurried upstairs, disappearing behind a door. Lyra followed him, going higher to find a balcony with a plaftorm in which Twilight stood with her equipment. The student turned to look at the musician.

"Hello, 's Bon Bon doing?"

"She's fine now. She just needed some time to ventilate. I stayed and talked to her, keeping her company. She went to sleep and I decided to come here and see how you were doing."

"Oh, I'm fine, thanks for coming. I'm just going to do some astronomy before turning in for the night. I could go to bed now, but if I don't do it, I won't feel calmed."

"I understand it. Astronomy? I haven't ever done it... What's it like?"

The purple unicorn called her with a hoof. "Come over here."

Once Lyra complied, she pointed the lens of the telescope to her.

"Just look through it. I've already set up coordinates."

The musician looked down. Closing her left eye to focus better, she distinguished a bright blue star that saluted her from the night sky above. She let out a loud gasp of amazement, opening her mouth. Next to her, Twilight chuckled, delighted.

"That's Spica, one of the brightest stars in the sky and personally one of my favorites. It makes you think of Princess Luna, doesn't it?"

Lyra continued her observation of the star, until finally separating from the lens.

"That's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, Twilight!"

"I know, right? It helps me immensely every night."

Both unicorns shared a smiled.

"Well, I'm glad to see you're fine. Guess I should home. Will I see you tomorrow?"

"I'll be with Zecora in the morning, but I think the afternoon will be fine."

"Ok, then! Will see you tomorrow afternoon. Have a nice day. Good night, Twilight!"

"Good night, Lyra. Have a nice day too!"

The green unicorn descended quietly, so as not to wake up Spike, and exited the Library. Twilight spied her from the balcony; her coat was bright enough to be distinguishable in the dark night. She then went back to observe through her telescope. From both unicorns' lips, a single phrase escaped simultaneously.

"Thank you..."


	7. It's a nice day!

Saturday began with a light morning shower all over Ponyville, courtesy of the weather team. Grass shone brighter and lush; birds, toads and frogs sang below the light rain. The early waking ponies were already going on about their business. Sweet Apple Acres burst with life as Applejack, along with Winona, went to visit the coop to check on the hens and collect eggs. Her brother, meanwhile, walked around the farm checking for things that might need repairing. Apple Bloom and Granny Smith were in the house, preparing things for breakfast and tidying up. The yellow filly was being specially effective, seeing as how that was the PTA meeting day. She had pretty good grades, but her Crusader activities many times caused her to find herself in Cherilee's wrong side, and her grandmother would be the one accompanying her. Not that she would be far much better if it was Applejack the one present. And if it was Big Macintosh, well...

Not much time later, roosters began to sing, and the laboring ponies of Ponyville worked on their business. Sugarcube Corner housed three older ponies who organized the shop, setted up ingredients, and looked after two mischievous foals that were all over the house.

Fluttershy trotted in and out of her cottage, carrying different kinds of food for the animal friends that showed up early. Birds of all sizes, squirrels, some stray cats and dogs and even a raccoon, a creature rarely seen in the small town, made up that first batch of friends. She smiled, being surrounded by so many delightful creatures.

"Today is going to be a great day, I know it."

Other ponies, less prone to being early birds, slept on. Rainbow Dash snored contentedly in her cloud bed, inside of her cloud house. She rolled and moved around frantically, but her dream was not disturbed in anyway.

Lyra Heartstrings was very much the same. Her sheets were tossed around, leaving her uncovered and she flailed her forelegs around and dreamed vividly, but overall slept, pardon the figure of speech, like a dream.

Two rooms further, Bon Bon opened her eyes. She rubbed the sleep away and jumped out of bed, trotting to the window to see the last drop of rain falling from the roofs. The streets were lightly soaked, -nothing that forbad walking outside- and the breeze was cool. She exited her room and washed herself in the bathroom, before going downstairs to begin her day. It was Lyra's turn for housework, but she still had to work in her shop. Besides, Bon Bon wasn't a pony with lazy tendencies. She might not be working in a farm, or some of the most common earth pony jobs, but she still was one, and worked hard. Not that Lyra didn't work hard, but the unicorn musician didn't let an opportunity to rest slip between her hooves, and sometimes Bon Bon felt like a mother.

She cleaned her counter, counted the sweets that were in it, and thought about what she needed to make for the day. She was picking up ingredients when a knock was heard at the door. She trotted straight to it, and opened it. At the other side was a middle aged brown unicorn stallion with a black mane and grey eyes. His cutie mark could not be seen from that angle, but Bon Bon knew it was a wrench. His name was Straight Lace and he was the Ponyville Elementary's janitor. A very serious pony, who worked very hard, but he enjoyed every minute of it. He greeted the sweet maker with a bow of his head.

"Good morning, Miss Bon Bon. Are you doing well on this fine morning?" asked the stallion, with his polite, soft, but quite audible and firm voice.

"I'm fine, Straight. Thank you for asking. How about you?"

"Is a pretty good morning, if you ask me. Had been a while since we got some sprinkle early in the morning. " Straight looked up; the rain had already stopped completely but the air was still cool. He looked forward again. "Well, Miss, I'm here to pick up the puddings for today's meeting. You have them already, right?"

"Of course." Bon Bon nodded, and led him to the back room. The unicorn crossed around the counter and followed her. Four big metal trays were covered with clothes, laying over a table. Straight lifted one of them and looked at the desserts, giving his nod of approval.

"Very well, Miss, I shall be taking them."

"Don't forget to bring back the trays and tables, please," asked the earth pony as she stepped aside to give him space.

"Don't you worry a bit, miss. Have a good day"

"You too, Mr. Straight."

The four trays floated in front of the unicorn, covered in a black hue, as she looked at him walk away, and disappear around a corner. After he was out of sight, she returned to prepare things. Some minutes later, she heard the hoofsteps upstairs and smiled. Soon Lyra was making her way downstairs groggily. Bon Bon turned to look at the unicorn with a happy smile on her face.

"Good morning, Lyra. Did you sleep well?"

The musician let a big yawn off, attempting with futility to cover it with her hoof. Her golden eyes looked sleepily at her friend. "Yeah, it was a total doozy. Give me some minutes, and the breakfast will be ready, ok?" Lyra walked into the kitchen, as the cream colored pony watched her.

"I want toast with butter!"

Lyra groaned.

-

Other ponies, such as Twilight Sparkle, required a little more convincing to get out of bed in a weekend, especially if they were not accustomed.

"Twilight, wake up!" called the young dragon for the third time, shaking the purple unicorn. The mare stretched and yawned openly, shaking the covers out.

"Ok, ok, Spike, that's enough." She threw herself out of bed, stretching her legs a little, before going over to the bathroom to wash herself. Once she was done, she joined her assistant in the kitchen, where he had prepared fried eggs, hay bacon and apple juice. They ate contently. When finished, she thanked him, went back to her room to grab the saddlebags and descended to the library's main room. Walking to one of the tables, she packed parchment, ink and quills, along with two books she had specially selected for her introduction to herbal art. Of course, she had read quite a bit, so she expected not to enter the field completely devoid of information.

The sun was just beginning to rise as she took the familiar path to the Forest. Very few ponies were around at that hour. She greeted a couple of familiar ponies and went on her way. Nothing of significance happened until she knocked at the zebra's door. Her voice answered from the inside.

"Come in, young mare. Step inside with the utmost care."

Twilight opened the door with her magic and took a look inside. Forming a path, at both sides leading to Zecora's cauldron, Poison Joke flowers laid in the floor. They were not thrown around, but rather seemed to have been arranged that way.

"Dealing with the Joke is risky, you see. But a very powerful help might it be."

Walking along the path of flowers, Twilight discovered the zebra standing to her right side. smiling. The unicorn looked at her amusedly..

"Welcome again, dear unicorn. Ready to take the magic outside your horn?"

Twilight smiled to her. "I'm ready at your call, teacher."

"Well then, please pick them from the floor, leaving the petals down is just poor," instructed the zebra, while walking over to a shelf containing different jars. Twilight's jaw dropped instantly.

"But then why did you do that?"

"Because it was a good welcome. Wasn't it, how do they say, 'awesome'?"

The unicorn was still taken aback, but did as told, lifting the flowers, washing them with water from a nearby basin, and grounding them in a ceramic plate, as instructed by her mentor. After picking up some jars and putting them next to the powdered poison joke, Zecora continued.

"The Joke into an ally you'll now mix, and I will teach you the tricks. This can be done with almost anything, you only have to find its ring." The striped mare then went on to uncork the jars, revealing brightly colored, strongly scented powders in some of them; others were more subdued. Twilight recognized some of them from the description of their smell in some of the books she had read, but others were unknown to her.

"The right combination you have to choose, otherwise you'll be chasing a wild goose. These powders I've collected are already well researched. In the forest, from the trees, you'll get it out of their leaves. Also, from spices for the food, you can have it very good."

Twilight watched as the zebra poured content from every jar into the plate, creating a jumble of powders and paste. When she finished with them all, with a small mortar she mixed them all, until obtaining a smooth, reddish paste, that smelled a little sour.

"Go ahead and taste it, you'll be surprised a little bit." Twilight looked down at the small bowl and licked the substance. It did not have the acid taste she was expecting from its smell, only a little touch could be discerned in an otherwise somewhat sweet flavor. She recalled the flavor of strawberries through it. Seemingly from far away, Zecora's voice was carried to her, and she perked up her ears to listen to the zebra.

"The results will be seen tomorrow. Hopefully, it won't be cause for sorrow." Twilight nodded; she would have at least the ingredients for the cure anyway. Zecora called over to her and taught her about what had been used. The unicorn dutifully wrote that down, along with some other combinations that would theoretically help balance the shady plant. She finally parted from the hut, expectant to see what the results of the day's job would be.

She walked happily out of the forest, and found Fluttershy outside her cottage, surrounded by some small rabbits. She approached the pegasus smiling; the bunnies scampered around.

"Hello, Fluttershy, how are you today?" The yellow pony answered with a sweet smile of her own.

"Good morning, Twilight. Today's such a wonderful, sunny day. Is almost noon and I'm waiting here outside to give my animal friends their food. Um, would you care for a cup of tea?" offered the shy pony, in a soft voice.

"I'd sure love that." Both mares then went into the pegasus' house. Fluttershy filled a jar with water and put it to boil, while putting some leaves in the teapot. She whistled low while working and addressed her friend.

"So, what did you do this morning, Twilight?"

The purple unicorn shifted to face the yellow pegasus, even though Fluttershy had her back to her. "Well, I went to begin my lessons with Zecora. We talked about Poison Joke and how it can be mixed with other herbs and ingredients to mitigate its effects and make them useful or at least, not so bothering. She prepared a mix of it with wild herbs and leaves, and I ate it. We're going to see tomorrow what the results are like." Fluttershy spun around, looking at her, her eyes wide, and her mouth open in a gasp. She finally blurted out in the loudest voice she could muster, which at least registered in the unicorn's ears:

"You ate Poison Joke, Twilight? I mean, merely stepping on it was quite bad, and you do this? What are you going to do if it goes wrong?"

"Well, Fluttershy, we can always have a bath, can't we. Besides, I've already learnt a thing or two from her. I trust her. Also, the water is boiling."

Fluttershy spun around back with neck-breaking speed. She put the fire down and finished preparing the tea, serving it in two cups, and carrying it in a tray, along with some apple pie that had been a recent gift from Applejack. She passed one cup and a slice to Twilight and sat across her.

"Do you at least know what will happen?" asked the pegasus with a big streak of worry painting her voice.

"Of course not, Fluttershy. The Joke's effects are completely random. But if thing go according to plan, it will not be such a hassle." Despite Twilight saying this, a small part on her person was stll weighing the problem at hoof.

The pegasus sipped from her tea. "Well, I hope you're right, Twilight..."

"What I'm worried about," said Twilight as she herself drank from her cup, "it's about Pinkie and her outburst. I'm not sure where did it all come from, and worse, how it is going to end..."

They both sighed, and drank from their cups. Twilight reached for her slice of cake and munched on a bit; the flavors combined in her mouth, creating a total antithesis to the taste of the poison joke paste. "This cake with your tea is really delicious, though..."

"Thank you, Twilight..." The yellow pony blushed slightly, averting her gaze from the unicorn's. She lifted it soon after, however.

Both ponies relaxed there. Twilight felt dreamy, letting her conscience drift away between sips. Soon though, Fluttershy rose from her chair. "It's about time that I went and fed my friends."

Twilight followed suit. "Since I was treated by you, it's only natural for me to assist you." The pegasus mover her head left and right.

"Oh no, I could not impose that on you..."

"Nonsense, Fluttershy. Come on, show me what to do."

Her friend complied. "Well, thank you, Twilight. I appreciate the help." Both ponies went outside and set themselves to their tasks as a multitude of small creatures surrounded them. In that moment, Twilight realized she had never spent such a moment with Fluttershy, and noted it in her mind.

A lemony glow surrounded the knife as Lyra peeled some apples and cut them in thin slices. She put the slices in two small plates. From a cupboard, she brought out a bag of oats and a bottle of milk, pouring them on deeper plates. Once she was over, she floated the food to the table. She also summoned a bunch of grapes, putting it down in the middle of the table. She headed out, and with half her body outside her room, she called out to the earth pony whose steps she could feel in the other room.

"Bon, breakfast's ready!"

"I'm going!" answered her friend. Lyra heard some noise coming from the storeroom, and just as she went back into the kitchen, Bon Bon went from one room to the other. She sat down and looked at what was served in front of her.

"You've outdone yourself, Lyra."

The green unicorn stuck out her tongue. "You know I can be the best." They both ate in quiet enthusiasm. Bon Bon was feeling much better than she had felt the previous day. The fact that she had an impending competition still weighed down on her, but she didn't feel as pressured anymore. She even felt something good might come out of all if. She would only have to wait. The earth pony finished eating and took her plates away.

"Thank, Lyra. It was really delicious."

"You're welcome, Bon."

The cream colored mare left the plates in the sink and went out to open her shop. Lyra washed the cutlery and dishes, cleaned the kitchen. Afterwards she moved into the storeroom, dusting and sweeping it. Once she was done there, she trotted upstairs, broom and cleaning cloth floating alongside. Behind her she could hear the voice of her friend making a sale. She did a thorough cleaning of the second floor. By the time she was done, the clock marked ten and half. She rested for fifteen minutes and then descended. She decided to make onion soup with salad. She was not as good a cook as Bon Bon, but it would suffice. Forty minutes later, she finally wrapped it up. Pouring herself a glass of fresh apple juice, she rested for a while. Past noon, she served the soup and the salad. Not bothering to call her friend, she waited until she heard the front door closing and her hoofsteps coming from the hall. Bon Bon walked into the kitchen.

"Good times, Lyra! I'm starving. Let's get to this."

The unicorn smiled broadly and the earth pony ate to her heart's content. Both were in great spirits that day. After eating, Bon Bon remained sitting there, while Lyra went to organize the kitchen.

"Last night, I went to the Library and talked to Twilight. And you know? She showed me one of the most incredible images that I could've ever dreamed of. A shining star in the night. It was very beautiful, Bon! I wish you could see it," the unicorn went on, excitedly.

The earth pony smiled briefly, laughing. "Is that so? Well, you're going to have and show me, Lyra."

The unicorn smiled too, although they were not looking face to face. "Sure, Bon."

Both ponies then went upstairs and took a noon nap. After waking up, Lyra decided to have an hour of practice before going to the Library. She entered her music room, closed the door behind her, and grabbed her lyre, preparing herself. It was the best closer for a very busy first half of day.

"I'm home, Spike!" bellowed Twilight after entering the Library. It was very tidy, only a few books resting upon the tables and everywhere was pretty clean. Spike's voice called from the dining room.

"Over here, Twilight! Lunch's ready!"

The unicorn entered the room and found a big plate of pasta with tomato and onion sauce sprinkled over it.

"This smells wonderful, Spike! I'm famished. I did eat a cake at Fluttershy's, but helping her with her friends is so tiring! I don't know how she manages it day by day! She's amazing..." She sat down to enjoy the meal the small dragon had prepared, diving into it. Once she finished, she walked over to where Spike was still seated and embraced him.

"Thanks, Spike, you're the best." She then left behind the flustered dragon, giggling. She entered her room, and laid herself down to rest a little. She had woken up pretty early for her standards and decided recharge her batteries a little. She was not sure of just how much time had passed, she figured she had fallen asleep, given how fuzzy her mind was. A cheerful scream woke her up, coming all the way from downstairs, ringing in her ears. She bolted out of bed, as if lightning had zapped her.

**"Hey, Twilight, I'm here!"**


	8. Setting off the Light Sparkles

It was another beautiful day in Ponyville. The sky was clear, featuring the blue shade that brought to mind Rainbow Dash's coat, and her surging in the sky. The birds sang, with merry melodies that went through the Library's windows. Outside, the grass had the fresh smell it has in the morning after being soaked by the light mist of daybreak.

Inside said building, Spike the small dragon opened his eyes. He stretched his arms with a big yawn, and uncurled himself, getting out of his basket. He looked behind him, and in the big bed settled there, his boss, Twilight Sparkle, was comfortably asleep, covered by her bedsheets and with a soft pillow below her head and another between her hooves. He smiled and went out of the room to clean himself.

Once he was done with that, he decided to go downstairs and do some early morning cleaning. Owlowiscious was great for cataloguing and ordering books, but he wasn't very useful for passing a rag over them, what with lacking dexterous digits, as Spike had. He didn't have anything against the owl anymore, and Owlowiscious kept good company to his little Peewee, but Spike still felt a small surge of pride being able to do something the nocturnal bird couldn't.

When he got a good cleaning of a section of the Library, he looked out of the window, and decided to go to the kitchen and make breakfast. He'd soon have to wake Twilight up for her lessons with Zecora. He did just that, and when he and a rather sleepy Twilight were eating, a knock could be heard on the Library's door. A high pitched voice accompanied it, one that would make Spike's scales stand up straight if they weren't so already.

"Ohh, Spike, Twilight, good morning! May I come in, dears?" called Rarity, from the other side of the door. Without waiting for his boss to say anything, the small dragon hurried to the door and opened it, finding the white unicorn, exquisitely groomed despite it being so early in the morning. Rarity's already blissful expression was highlighted up to eleven when her deep azure eyes saw Spike. She crouched and gave him a light nuzzle.

"Spikey-wikey, just the little, brave dragon I wanted to see." Rarity was almost singing as every word left her delicate, finely shaped lips; Spike could do naught but lose himself into every single word spoken by her. She batted her eyelashes at him and he could've sworn she had cast the ultimate spell on him, not even needing to use her horn to have him absolutely and utterly charmed. She talked again, her voice coming out even more melodic as every second passed.

"Oh, Spike. I have but one great favor to ask from you. Could you, brave knight, accompany me, the damsel in distress, to the wild, savage land of the Diamond Dogs, to go gem-hunting? Would you that for me, gentle dragon?"

Spike answered in earnest, not even once taking his eyes off of the stunning unicorn standing in front of him.

"But of course, my dear Rarity, I'll be at your call and whim in this perilous enterprise. No harm shall come to you as I perform the duty of your guardian." His heart was about to pump out of his chest; his body fell way too small for him right in those moments, but as Rarity's eyes shone with grace and gratefulness, he deemed every single thing worth that moment. He was barely able to turn to face Twilight.

"Is that fine with you, Twilight?"

The librarian nodded, and smiled. "Please go with her, Spike. i'll be here taking care of the Library so you can protect the damsel Rarity. Don't have any doubt then, and be the brave knight now!"

Spike nodded as well, and saying his goodbyes to his employer, -she could not be a caretaker, for it was now his turn to be one!- he walked out, following Rarity and watching her rear -as a proper knight, of course, he did not have any intentions with her that were less than noble- protecting her against anything that could come.

Rarity's mane and tail swayed rhythmically from one side to the other; the well groomed, shiny violet hair mesmerizing the baby dragon, who had to shake his head more than once to remember his proper duties. But her white hide was purer than any cloud. And for him, it shone brighter than anything.

In fact, as they advanced, he couldn't help but notice that her shine kept growing stronger. The light soon began to extend far from her body, taking in her surroundings. Everything around him quickly became unclear, wrapped in the blinding light that now invaded his eyes.

"Rarity... Hey, Rarity, what's this...? What's happening to you... Rarity... RARITY!"

His eyes were hurt by the extremely powerful light. He could not see anything as he extended his claws and stood up. Attempting to walk, he tripped over. Strangely, he found that it was a hard floor, completely unlike the soil that comprised the paths of Ponyville or its outsides. Turning back, a hard pain assaulted his face. He had collisioned with something. Several moments more passed and he was still troubled by the intense, overwhelming white light. He had stopped calling Rarity a while ago, knowing now she wasn't by his side.

Suddenly, the shine began to recede, slowly but surely. The light disappeared, but even so, Spike's sight took quite a long time to return. He had resolved to stay put where he was sitting, having recognized his basket, but didn't make any single sound or move. He couldn't be sure just how much time had passed; he had become extremely bored, but couldn't risk a single misstep. Then, finally, he began to perceive. At first, dim shadows were outlined in the unending white, they eventually began gaining more details. Soon dots of color followed, rising in number exponentially, and eventually he took in the room he was inside of. It was Twilight's room, the same one he had occupied last night to go to sleep. When he had done so, his boss was still occupied with Lyra in the Library's main room. He looked over to the bed, and his mouth opened fully.

Twilight Sparkle was still the very same unicorn that had gone to sleep. But her skin had suffered quite a curious transformation. Her normally soft lavender coat was now somewhat transparent. Not that one could look inside of her, but it had taken on such a lighter tone that if one didn't know her, she would register as the most strange pony one would've ever seen. Her extremely light purple coat was also streamlined by a white line all over, as if a chalk had been used to draw her profile around her body. In spite of all this, she slept peacefully, without any deviation in her slumber or a dream of any class that could be discerned from her movements.

The white outline of her body suddenly began to gain intensity, crossing across her skin. Spike instinctively knew what was coming. He shut his eyes tight and covered them with his hands. Still, the incredible light emitted by her body managed to produce a flash in his covered eyes. When he deemed it over, he uncovered them slowly and found her in quite the same position as before. Not losing any more time, he jumped over to her bed and  
shook her violently. She finally jerked upwards, and Spike barely got out of the way of a pretty strong reflex kick, jumping out of the bed.

"What's with you, Spike? Why did you wake me up like that?" asked the very much unamused unicorn, looking down to him with a deep frown.

"Twilight, look at yourself! You're looking weird, and you're giving out an extremely powerful light!" Her expression slowly changed as she considered his words. She went from confused, to analytical to finally her face lighting in understanding. Along with this, the while light came out once more. Spike covered himself again and shouted.

"BE CAREFUL!"

"Oops, sorry, Spike." As the light receded, he dared another look, only to find her closing her eyes and concentrating. He didn't wait any more and ran out of the room, shutting the door behind him with violence. Through the orifices of the door, the flashes of powerful light were revealed. It went on and off once and again, until he lost interest and marched to the kitchen to prepare breakfast, not in the best of moods. She finally came out when hearing his scream calling her and entered the kitchen, where he had already set up the food.

"Just promise me not any more light shows!"

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry, it just took me by surprise, but I seem to have it regulated already. Still, I'd never suspected Poison Joke could have such potent results. I suppose it makes sense, what it me having eaten it directly... With Zecora's antidote, I should be fine, though. I'll ask her when I get there.

"Whatever floats your boat. Just get rid of it, fine?" spoke Spike, harshly, as he devoured his food quite hungrily, soon having nothing in his plate while Twilight was just beginning.

"What's the matter, Spike?" asked the no longer shining unicorn, looking concerned to her assistant. He waved a claw dismissing her.

"Nothing whatsoever. Just drop that, okay?"

She didn't insist anymore and rather finished eating, after which she prepared herself and went over to Zecora, while Spike remained at the library, taking solace in his job.

-

"Wake up, Lyra!"

The addressed unicorn rolled on her bed, turning herself to her other side, but bolted upwards when pressure was applied to her flank, painfully achieving its goal. She opened her eyes and glared at her best friend.

"You could have asked it nicely, Bon!"

"That never works with you, silly pony," answered Bon Bon, turning to leave her room. "Hey, Lyra, I need you to watch over the shop while I go to the Acres. I won't be out too long, don't worry."

As Lyra exited her room, she heard the sound of Bon Bon's hoofsteps going downstairs and then opening and closing the door behind her. She trotted to the bathroom and washed herself thoroughly. She descended the stairs and went into the kitchen, finding a large serving of oats with milk waiting for her. She ate, quietly thanked her friend and then, with the help of her magic, opened the door and organized the counter for the day's work, lifting a small, but heavy bag containing bits for change and counting it before putting it down again. Morning went on very slowly, with the occasional pony coming around and buying -Sunday was a lazy day,and ponies who went outside generally headed for the Market, but Bon Bon had never set shop up there, preferring the tranquility of her own home. Too much tranquility for Lyra's liking.

When the earth pony came back, the unicorn had her head resting on top of the counter, and was looking up to the clouds, letting her gaze wander. Nopony had come around for twenty minutes already. Lyra looked up and beamed, swatting her tail.

"Bon, you're here! I was so bored! How did it go?"

Bon Bon, carrying a huge bag in her mouth, and balancing other two more in her back, didn't answer, instead entering through the hole that Lyra opened for her, pushing the counter aside. Once she had put off her packages in the storeroom, she went back to the main door.

"Quite good. I was given some fresh apples and a couple of fresh apple and strawberry marmalade by the Apples. Also, I found Fluttershy and she gave to me two honey jars. I suppose she has a good link to the bees. I've got plenty of material to work with, anyway. Well, now you can go, I'll take over."

Lyra approached Bon Bon and nuzzled her softly, before turning around and hurrying upstairs. She packed up her lyre, some music sheets, a special dress and a pair of sunglasses, before going down again, putting her glasses on, meeting and parting with Bon Bon and Dinky, who was buying something, and speeding to the Ponyville Train Station, just a few minutes ahead of the next arrival of the Friendship Express to Canterlot. She jumped into the vehicle with big spirits, finding soon an empty compartment. She went inside and sat next to the window, looking out to the platform, in which some ponies carried bags around.  
"Well, here's to another successful playing session tonight!"

The morning was quite successful for Twilight. She managed to suppress her newfound ability and avoid a shining spectacle in the middle of Ponyville. Once she reached Zecora's home, she demonstrated it to the zebra by partially lighting her right foreleg. Zecora dutifully took notes on it, and then gave her a preparation which contained all of the same ingredients the first preparation had, swapping the Joke with savia from a certain tree, used as a catalyst for quite a wide variety of antidotes.

While they worked for several hours reviewing plants and fruits that could be used in conjunction with Poison Joke, of which Zecora had extensive notes about, the white outline around Twilight's body grew dimmer, eventually disappearing. Her coat also went from the light, clear color it had gained to her accustomed lavender hue. The ability to instantaneously light up had been lost, and even though she felt a bit disappointed for having lost such an amazing skill, she was overall happy with the experiment.

With Zecora's promise to take her next weekend for a Botanical walk around in the forest, Twilight came back to Ponyville. It was almost noon by that time. When she came back to the Library, she was stunned, finding Spike going around whistling and organizing the books with nary a complaint. He turned to look at her.

"Oh, Twilight, welcome back! I've prepared your dress for tonight and soon I'll go to make lunch."

She smiled with amusement. "Rarity was here, right?"

"Well, I went to see her. She was working with something, but she gave me a kiss," Spike touched his forehead and sighed dreamily, "and she gave me a couple of big rubies for snacking later. She's the best!"

Twilight giggled and went upstairs to find her yellow birthday dress hanging on a perch, carefully ironed. Above it also hung a hat in a matching color, its brim was laced with white. It had been developed by Rarity as an additional gift a little after they had come back from her birthday party, and it made for such a gorgeous pair.

She went to her bed, closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift into sleep. She was yanked out of it for what she deemed as too soon by Spike's voice calling her to lunch. She begrudgingly pulled herself out of bed, shook the sleepiness away and went to enjoy a sunflower salad with carrot pie as dessert. Once it was over, she went to her room again, and sat in the corner of her bed. She floated the ticked that had been given to her by Lyra and looked at it. She suddenly was aware of just how much the Library was silent and … boring. She had always been happily unaware of it, being always content with shoving her muzzle down a book and taking notes, and performing experiments, and watching the stars with scientific glee.

But ever since Lyra had shown up, nothing had been quite the same. She remembered the energetic unicorn rushing past her to admire the human statue, her body radiating happiness from every pore. The enthusiast unicorn who had brought some pudding to her even though it ended up in Spike's gut. Lyra, who smiled, laughed and told jokes when she felt the atmosphere was becoming too heavy. Who had studied with her, concentrating as hard as Twilight could, which she honestly hadn't believed her to be able to in the beginning.

She had considered the green unicorn to be a sort of Pinkie Pie, a flighty spirit who usually sorted things around by sheer... well, she didn't truly know what it was that moved Pinkie Pie. But Lyra had proved to be something else. She was, after all, an accomplished musician, as both Celestia and Rarity had vouched for. She had never heard her Lyra play, though.

In fact, she had properly known Lyra for even less than a week, but now she felt that the space in the Library, so much of a second nature to her, so much her home, felt cold, unusually large and lonely. And she felt something pulling inside of her, even though she couldn't identify it, when she thought of Lyra's smiling face looking at her.

She dismissed the feeling to the back of her mind and sat up, going over to take a bath, and afterwards dress herself up and prepare. When she was ready, she left the still complacent Spike and headed for the station

When she arrived there, she was surprised -or perhaps not- to see Rarity at the platform. She was wearing a ball gown, designed to be fitting to her body, a white piece complemented by a flowery purple skirt that flowed around her, accentuating her natural curves, with grace, but also a lightly applied risqué element which showcased her charming nature. She carried a matching saddlebag, no doubt everything designed and sewn by herself. Twilight approached her, smiling.

"Hello, Rarity."

Rarity turned around to see Twilight and beamed, nuzzling her softly. "Oh, Twilight, dear. Is so good to see you here. I must say, even if I shouldn't, that this piece really suits you wonderfully and it's perfectly crafted for you. You look so gorgeous!"

Twilight blushed, accepting Rarity's compliments gracefully. Rarity pressed on. "But, what are you doing in her, dressed so formally and going to board a train? Are you going to Canterlot?" asked she, now eyeing Twilight with the smallest hint of being suspicious showing in her amethyst eyes.

"Yes... Yes, I might have forgotten to mention that Lyra invited me to her concert tonight. Heh..."

Rarity's expression soon turned from a light frown to a delighted grin, much unlike what Twilight was expecting. "She did, didn't she? Oh, how wonderful. I was just heading over there myself. Of course, I was thinking of checking some of the high fashion stores in Canterlot before going over there. But if a dear friend goes with me, I think it can be even better! Say, dear, let's go and buy our tickets, is that right?"

They did so, and soon they were on the way to Canterlot. Rarity had insisting on doing some grooming on Twilight, and now was experimenting with her mane, brushing it, curling it, inserting pins and unraveling a pair of knots in her hair. Twilight endured, and after some minutes of this, decided to speak.

"You have heard Lyra play before, right? How is she?"

"Hmmm?" said Rarity, biting her lip softly in concentration as she parted both sides of Twilight's hair to the sides, checking the effect it had. "She is certainly a delicious performer. She might still have some way ahead of her in comparison to the elite players in the world, but she's no slouch. Honestly, though, dear. I think that it's better for you to experience it yourself." She kept the look that she had chosen for her friend, and two small light pink pins were inserted in each side of her hair, keeping it in place.

"Voilá. Now it is perfect! But tell me, dear. How is it that you haven't heard her play yet. You two have been spending quite a good amount of time together these days."  
Twilight blushed softly, even though she had no reason to, and she sought to regain her composure. Rarity did not or seemed not to realize this, and if she did she was a very good actress, as she spent time checking the small things that she could fix on Twilight.

"Yes, but most of it has been studying and walking around. She never brings her lyre with herself or any of her instruments for that matter. I'm pretty curious now."

"I see, my dear. Well, I assure you you are going to enjoy it. very much indeed."

The rest of the journey was over in a blink, as she and Rarity talked over most kinds of irrelevant topics, but she was happy to follow her friend's pace. They descended in the station. Twilight had hoped to go to the Castle and meet the Princess there for a surprise, but she found herself brought along by Rarity as she conducted an exploration of the finest boutiques in Canterlot that were open in Sunday. Twilight didn't mind a bit, she enjoyed hearing about _hauté couturé _and looking so many pretty and varied designs she could never have even imagined. Time ran over, though, and they decided to take a cab straight to the Manne Theathre. The theater was a big park in one of the most popular areas of the capital, in the middle of which, surrounded by groves of all kind of trees, a huge platform elevated.

It consisted of hundreds of seats elevating, forming a half circle shape, themselves surrounding a smaller platform with huge, red curtains in the back, covering the rooms used by the performers backstage, utility rooms and some other multipurpose rooms.

As the sun was beginning to fall in the horizon, some ponies -and one or two non-ponies as well, namely donkeys and griffons- were already sitting in the audience. Twilight and Rarity arrived. Giving a glance around her, Twilight asserted sadly that none of the Princesses would be attending tonight. She was joined by Rarity, who looked at her.

"Shall we go,Twilight?"

"Yes, I myself think that's a pretty good idea," answered a familiar voice behind them. Both unicorns looked back and discovered the Princess of Love standing right in front of them.

"Cadence!" screamed both at the same time, uncaring of the looks earned by the ones who were passing by their side. Some looked at the Princess,though.

"It's been some time, Twilight, Rarity." She approached her two friends and embraced them. "How've been you doing, girls?"

"We've been doing fine, thanks, Cadence. How about you, and Shining? I hadn't hear from you since you came back from your honeymoon."

The Princess made a face that was about half a pout and a smile. "Well, you know that Royal life and Royal Guard Captain life is quite difficult, not to mention what happens when you combine both. But why don't we go inside? I think the presentation will begin soon."

The three mares presented their tickets and went all the way down to the middle row, choosing three seats at the left. Around them, seats were filled left and right. Twilight was amazed by all of it.

The lights that illuminated the audience diminished considerably, leaving just the right amount to see around. The stage lights came to life then, directing all the audience's looks down there. An earth pony came from behind the curtains. It was indistinguishable from the distance at which Twilight was seated if it was male or female, its features and pretty much everything save its race and its light brown coat with black mane and tail. Only when the pony spoke could she discern he was a male. His voice was carried around easily despite the fact that he held no microphone or voice amplifying device; she deduced he must have had an amplifying spell applied over him.

"Mares and gentlecolts, it is an honor for the Manne Theathre to feature tonight the extremely talented Lyra Heartstrings! She will be giving us tonight a performance consisting of some of her more famous compositions. So, without any further waiting, Lyra!"

As the earth pony retreated, a courteous, very sight pumping of hooves could be heard. It was nowhere near some tumultuous ones Twilight had heard before, and it quickly ceased. Silence reigned as Lyra came to the front, her lyre held in her lemony yellow glow. She was using a loose, very simple blue dress that didn't impede her walking, and a golden tiara adorned her head. She marched over to the center of stage. She looked upstairs and saw the whole multitude looking down to her. The lights were falling down to her. The exhilarating feeling of completeness that filled her in those moments invaded her once again. The voices in her head came back. She answered.

_You see? I told you that I'd be here. I'd be here someday, and now I'm here again. And you were wrong..._

Lyra pushed the voices to the back of her mind. She pulled the first string with her magic, and felt its vibration carry the sound everywhere, traveling in the waves of the amplifying spell that covered the whole place. She then fell in place with her music, feeling her interpretation coming out of every part of her being. The audience in front of her held their breath and dived right into her melody. But she could not see one mare in the sea of seats that was very much hanging on every note her lyre expressed, following her every move in the distance. And as she pictured the usual faces that accompanied her in her mind during every presentation, she found there was a new face that brought light to her. She imprinted strength to her playing and went on, with passion, piece after piece.

Night had fell over completely upon Canterlot by that time. Twilight had lost herself among every note that came out of Lyra's lyre, and she was really content. Every song however, brought her to the reality, that everything would come to an end soon.

She then pictured in her mind her body shining in a white outline. She pictured the bright blue light of a faraway star. She pictured a golden lyre, an image etched on a pony's flank. She heard the last note being pulled out from a string, the moments of silence that served as a bridge between that last movement and the pumping of hooves around her. She stood up, bringing to her the gazes of all the ponies surrounding her, including Rarity and Cadence, but she barely registered it.

Her horn glowed with a purple light, and she closed her eyes in concentration. A white spark ignited out of its tip, followed soon by a chain of others, which joined it, up in the black sky. The white dots then began to connect one to the other by lines of bright, white light, and when it was over, the image of a giant, white lyre was etched up in the sky. A perfect replica of Lyra's cutie mark, that could be seen all around Equestria if one looked up.

Everypony fell silent, including the unicorn down in the stage. She looked at the figure in the sky, and then looked at the point where the white sparks had come from. She could not see clearly, but she did not need that in order to understand what had happened.

Lyra Heartstrings smiled, and tears were streaming down her face. She whispered as soft as she could.

"Thank you, Twilight."

Up in the grades, where ponies were trying their best to get a look at the caster of such a spell, Rarity sat at her side, her mouth hanging open, every bit of lady-like decency completely forgotten.

"What was that, Twilight? I mean, it was completely and astonishingly beautiful, but..."

Cadence, didn't say anything, instead looking up to the night sky that had become a canvas. The figure painted of it slowly lost its brightness and faded back into obscurity; a masterpiece of brevity, but one which surely had left its mark on every creature that had seen if, but specially in a certain unicorn. The Princess of Love smiled, and turned her gaze to her left.

"That was love," Cadence whispered, even though nopony was listening to her. She smiled, and knew that what was to come would be very good days.


	9. The Contest

The Library of Palace was in absolute silence. Many of its corridors smelled of old books, of dust and the old air caught in its walls, despite there being open windows near. Compared to a normal library, it was messy, with books and parchments scattered around in every shelf. Every work in there had been the result of hundreds of years of collecting and careful keeping. From the time when the Sisters had their home in the Everfree Forest, up until the Canterlot era. They brought Celestia many memories as she walked through the aisles. Distinct books were covered in her yellow aura as she picked them and carried them with her. She scouted several shelves until having a considerable amount of books for studying. She had appointed one of the Royal Advisors so that in her stead, he would take care of the Day Court for some days, as she did research. She headed to her chambers and sat down to work, floating the first book in front of her.

Twilight blinked as she sat down back in her seat. Her senses worked functionally once again and she caught note of the world surrounding her. Now, all the audience had its eyes set on her instead of the stage, which was now empty anyway. She felt herself shrinking down in the very same place where she was standing. What had she done? Why had she done such a thing? It all came back to her in a rush. She looked down at the stage, but Lyra was not there anymore. Twilight's head fell down and a single tear fell from her eyes. She then felt a hoof in her head, and looked up to see Cadence looking at her, a soft and kind expression in her face.

"Come on, Twilight, Rarity. Let's go to palace." The two unicorns followed her, widely conscious of all the gazes following them, until they found a carriage waiting for them outside of the park. They all climbed and headed towards the Canterlot Castle. Rarity opened her mouth to talk, but was stopped by Cadence, who shook her head. The rest of the journey was made in complete silence. When they arrived, only members of the Night Guard could be found. Neither of the Sisters seemed to be around, and so Cadence, Twilight and Rarity made it to bedrooms that the Princess of Love indicated. Twilight slipped into her bedroom and locked it. She did not care even for taking a bath, instead hopping straight into bed. Through the window, the light of a pale crescent entered the room, filtered through blood red curtains. Her thoughts then, as she laid in the bed in silence, drifted back to the unicorn musician. She remembered the feeling that pulled her and that intensified just before she cast the night lights spell . It was the same feeling that her mind was occupied in as she looked at the ceiling. She had first noticed it the day before, when she recalled her days with Lyra. While she laid down on the bed pondering her feelings, sleep eventually caught up with her and she drifted into unconsciousness.  
The knock on the door woke her up as it resounded on her door, louder each time.

"Twilight, wake up! We must go back to Ponyville." Rarity's voice called to her. She dragged herself out of bed.

"I'm going, Rarity!" She walked out of the room, where the white unicorn waited for her, and went to a nearby bathroom, washing herself. They both walked to the Castle's Dinning Hall, as none of them had eaten anything since the past afternoon. Once again, neither Celestia nor Luna were around at the table, which consisted only of Cadence, who greeted them warmly.

"Good morning, girls? Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, darling, I had a wonderful night of sleep. I must say, the castle rooms are indeed exquisite. I'd like to have something as special as that." Twilight chuckled internally, knowing very well the quality of her friend's bedroom.

"I had a quite good sleep as well," she lied, while reaching for a large serving of oats.

"I'm glad to hear that. The concert was quite good, don't you agree?" asked Cadence, seemingly convinced of Twilight's words. "Lyra's always one of the best. My aunt Celestia likes her very much as well. I know her quite a bit, that's why she was one of my bridesmaids."

"Speaking of the Princess, where is she?" asked Twilight, looking at Cadence. "I haven't seen her for a while, and Luna wasn't around last night either. Are they fine?"

"Oh, yes, don't worry. Aunt Celestia has been quite busy for a couple of days now, reading in her own rooms. Aunt Luna is sleeping as usual."

Twilight ate slowly from her plate.

"So, Twilight, how did you come up with such a marvelous idea? I absolutely loved what you did in the sky, darling!" Rarity's sudden words almost made her jump on the spot. She managed to catch herself and brought out an awkward smile.

"I just wanted to … show some support to her. She played quite well, after all, and I thought that she deserved a little something."

"I see. That was a little surprising, anyway, but very beautiful, I must say." Rarity looked at her with barely suppressed curiosity while Cadence algo glanced at her; the eyes of the Princess shone for a brief moment, her lips curved in a slight smile.

"Well, Rarity, is normal that Twilight wants to do something for a new friend she has, isn't it? I've heard a couple of things about how you've gotten along well with her." Cadence's smile grew wider, while Twilight could feel a blush coming to her cheeks, that she did her best to fight off. She dove into her plate and did not say another word until they were all finished, while Rarity and Cadence chatted amicably.

Finally, all was over. Cadence accompanied them out of the castle, and into the station, waving them goodbye when they entered the train. She spied the two unicorns' profiles in a nearby window. Her smile didn't falter as she watched the train leave.

"Catch up soon, Twilight Sparkle."

"Well, darling, drop it," said Rarity, putting her hooves in the table and resting her head in top of them. Her mane swayed back and forth as the train speeded along the mountains.

"Huh?" Twilight looked at Rarity in front of her, confused. The white unicorn had a satisfied look in her face as she returned the gaze to her friend.

"Come on, Twilight. Did you really believe I was going to buy your story? We've been the biggest friends for a while now, and I know you. You don't have to worry about anything with me."

"I don't know what are you talking about, Rarity..."

"Do you have feelings for Lyra Heartstrings?" asked Rarity bluntly.

Twilight blushed, gawked and looked at her friend, unbelieving. Rarity's azure eyes pierced into hers.

"I... I think I do. I don't know anything about this, Rarity and I'm confused. My chest aches and swells when I think about her, but I feel... happy. And, don't get offended by this, but I'm lonely when she's not around. I have such great friends as you, but I can't stop thinking about her."

Twilight was in the verge of tears, and effectively, she started crying copiously. Rarity walked around the table and caught her friend in a soft embrace.

"That's completely fine, Twilight. Is what one feels when one's in love. We're your friends and we'll always be there for you. We understand, darling. The important thing is what you're going to do. I think we need to have a friend reunion soon."

Twilight slowly calmed, rubbing the tears out of her eyes, and nodded quietly. Rarity smiled and nuzzled her softly.

"But first, dear, there's another thing we must take care of. before."

The two friends made it to Ponyville. They trotted to the park, where they found that a big oven was being set up in the middle of it, as well as two huge tables. A really big ice box could also be found in the floor. Suddenly, Pinkie jumped in front of them. A big smile was etched on her face, but they could tell there was something wrong about it.

"Hello, Rarity! Hello Twilight! I hadn't seen you two in a while! Are you ok? " chirped the party pony, jumping from one place to other, checking the preparations. A couple of stallions were there as well, making connections, putting down the heavy stuff and carrying things around.

"Er, yes, Pinkie. We're fine. How about you?" asked Twilight quietly.

"Oh, I'm finey-winey girls. I'm just helping set this up. The contest will begin in a couple of hours. You'll be here, right?"

"Of course, Pinkie. Just let us check our homes and we'll be here shortly."

"Okie Dokie Lokie!" Pinkie jumped away and the two friends continued their walk. They met Bon Bon and Lyra in the way, as the two mares carried some bags around. Bon Bon just looked at them resigned, while Lyra waved enthusiastically to Twilight, who felt her heart jumping around.

They made it to the Library and found that Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Fluttershy were already there, waiting for them. They were sitting at one of the table, along with Spike.

"Hey, girls, good to see you around!" called Dash, as she beckoned them to come over to the complied and sat around. Twilight looked at all of them sitting around the table.

"Well, this should be finished today..."

-

Half of Ponyville was out in the park, contemplating the stage that had been set for the contest. A table covered with a large pink cloth and quite a quantity of ingredients and pans had Pinkie Pie behind it. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were near her, carrying Pumpkin and Pound safely secured, though Pumpkin constantly attempted to release herself, requiring her mother's full attention.

A light violet cloth covered the other table, also full of ingredients. Bon Bon was standing behind it, with her parents and Lyra near. Bon Bon's parents were a couple of normal earth ponies who doted on their girl.

The group arrived and saw everything ready for the competence. Pinkie waved at them from the front and they sighed, sitting there.

Suddenly, Scootaloo appeared out from nowhere and Pinkie passed a microphone to her. The small filly cleared her throat and screamed.

"Is this thing on?" A huge screech resounded around the park, causing all present to cover their ears. Scootaloo smiled apologetically.

"Heh heh, sorry, everypony."

Once the instrument had been checked up, she started again.

"Fillies and gentlecolts, welcome to Ponyville's Premier Pastry Pony Contest, held today to determine who's the best baking filly in our town! You know our two contestants! From the Candies and Pastries' Shop, a very gentle earth pony, who quietly but with a big heart works to make delicious confections. She's Bon Bon!"

There was hoof stumping from everywhere in the park. When it calmed down, Scootaloo continued.

"And a mare that doesn't need any presentation! She has thrown everybody around a huge party at least once! Ponyville's Party Pony and apprentice at the yummy Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie!"

The stomping resumed and Pinkie smiled, waving at everypony. When it died once again, Scootaloo screamed normally.

"Well, then, let's roll with it. They both will begin working on their confections without a time limit. Once they're both done, there will be a judging round. The judges will be you all, tasting their creations and voting for who is the best candy maker in Ponyville. Have at it!"

Scootaloo jumped out of the table, mixing with the crowd, and both ponies put hooves to work.

Bon Bon's table had on top of it a hoof-ful of apples, a bottle of milk, another bottle with honey, sugar, butter, and flour. She picked up a knife with her mouth, and began peeling the apples, holding them between her hooves.

At her side, Pinkie had milk, cream, bananas, soda crackers and vanilla ice cream. She began peeling the bananas, when the first slipped out of its skin and fell to the floor. She turned around the table, picked it up and washed it with some water from a jug Mr. Cake passed to her. When she peeled all the bananas, she picked up a knife to slice them up. She made a wrong movement and cut her hoof, not deeply, but with enough bleeding. She washed her wound and Rarity floated a piece of white cloth from her saddlebag, with which she covered Pinkie's hoof, given that there weren't band-aids available. Her mane was slightly deflated, but she kept on working. Her friends followed her every moment from the back.

Pinkie resumed her cutting, She dropped them in a glass container, spacing them around. She applied a coating of ice cream over them and then began to create a cover of crackers over it. When she was done, she aplied another cape of ice cream coating. She smiled, readying the jar with cream.

Pumpkin Cake had finally relented from her escape attempts. Instead, she fixed her sight into the familiar shape of her pink caretaker. Seeing how she grabbed a strange container, she waved her hooves and cried happily. She grabbed the container magically and floated it around. Everypony followed it as it travelled the air.

"Pumpkin,no!" cried her mother. The small filly looked up at her mother, and then cut the flow of magic. The cream jar fell straight to the floor, breaking and losing its content. Pinkie looked down to it, then to her preparation and back to it. Everypony looked at her. Bon Bon, who had already completed the first steps and poured the mix into a container for the oven, approached her.

"Pinkie-"

The pink mare jumped, shaking her head.

"I'll just go and get another cream bag from the Corner. Wait a moment!"

And then she disappeared and came back in a flash, holding a bag in her mouth. She opened it and poured its content on her dessert, while Bon Bon took her cake to the oven. Pinkie covered the glass recipient with plastic and took it to the icebox. She picked up some more ice and covered the recipient with it, sealing the box. She then went to clean the dropped cream and broken glass. While time passed, everyone chatted among themselves, waiting.

Finally, Bon Bon's oven timer rang and she opened the oven. The smell of delicious fresh baked cake made it to everyone through the air, and they licked their mouths, expectantly. Bon Bon carried her cake to the table, and adorned it with some remaining apple slices, ending it with a final bath of milk.

Pinkie got her dessert out of the box and uncovered it. Mr. Cake gave each mare some plates, and they began to serve their creation. A line was formed in front of the two, who gave a plate of each to each eater.

When all the presents had been served to, they waited for the testing phase. Finally, they all finished and all that remained was the voting. Both contestants were sweating profusely, despite the fact that the day was not very hot.

After the deliberation of all the "judges" , Bon Bon was declared the winner by an ample margin of victory. The consensus of the majority was that, though Pinkie's dessert was delicious, the touches of apple and honey that permeated Bon Bon's cake, so much in the inside as in the outside had touched them, bringing a certain nostalgic feeling, as well as having an amplified taste.

Pinkie's hair deflated completely. Her smile vanished from her face and she soon broke down in tears.

Everypony around in the plaza looked at each other and then at Pinkie, to gaze at each other once again. A small rumble could be felt, and a dust cloud rose from the floor. Once it dissipated the only ponies remaining in the park were Pinkie Pie, Bon Bon, Lyra, the Cakes, the Elements and the Crusaders.

Twilight and her friends approached Pinkie. Twilight spoke soflty.

"Pinkie..."

The pink mare bawled strongly, silencing her friend. Nopony knew that to do, they just stared each other, pawing their hooves at the floor.

Then Bon Bon came forward. "Pinkie, why did you came up with this ridiculous contest in the first place?"

Pinkie looked at her, choking back her sobs. Two pairs of blue eyes confronted each other.

"I just wanted to be recognized as a top candy maker..."

"But Pinkie, you are. I bet everypony around here has told you that, haven't they?"

"Y... yes... they have..."

Bon Bon looked at her, using the very same gaze she employed when Lyra was being incredibly silly. "So, listen to me. I've tasted your sweets myself, and they're delicious. Not me, nor anypony has the right to tell you the contrary. So stop this silliness and just be happy. In fact, if you want, I could work with you..."

Pinkie looked at her. "You're serious..."

"I always am, Pinkie."

Pinkie cleaned her face, and smiled briefly, her mane recovering some of its poofiness.

"I'll do it, then. And I'd like to think about that..."

"Do think it, then, and talk to me. I'm available at the shop."

Bon Bon helped Pinkie back on her feet, and embraced her softly, breaking free soon after. She looked around, at the disaster left behind by the pony audience.

"I think we need to clean all this soon."

-

"Honestly, darling, I wasn't sure we'd come out of that one."

"Yeah, I was thinking about what we'd have to do."

"It isn't pretty to see you come down, Pinkie..."

The six friends were reunited at the Library, by Rarity's instigation. Spike had been sent off to stay with the Crusaders at the Apple farm. They had spent some time discussing the day's events, after spending a couple of hours cleaning. Lyra and Bon Bon had said goodbye amicably and everything had come out ok. Pinkie had sent out a friendship report to Celestia about believing in yourself and your friends.

They were drinking tea with some candies the Cakes had given them. Rarity lowered her cup.

"Well, now that we can have this uncomfortable incident behind us, I think there's another issue that requires our attention, girls. "

They all turned to look at her like one. Twilight felt the heat rising inside her. Applejack spoke.

"And just what might that thing be, Rarity?"

"Applejack, darling, I think that is more proper of Twilight to respond to."

All gazes then shifted to focus their attention on her. Twilight swallowed a gulp. "Well, girls..."

They all looked at her, expectantly. She cleaned the sweat from her forehead.

"You're making me extremely nervous here, you know?"

The four ponies looking intensely at her relented.

"Sorry, Twi."

"Yeah, sorry, Twilight. It'd be cool whenever you're ready."

"Sorry for making you uncomfortable, Twilight. You can talk if you feel like it, we'll listen to you..."

"Yeah, we're not some snooping ponies, we're your friends! So it's good to talk when you feel like it!"

Twilight smiled. "Thanks, girls, you're the best friends I could ask for." She inhaled deeply and looked back at them. Rarity nodded quietly.

"Well, I think I might like Lyra. As in, like like."

Four pairs of mouths had their jaws fall open.

Rainbow recovered and zoomed to her side. "Are you talking for real, Twilight?"

The unicorn nodded silently. "Wow..."

Applejack lowered her hat from her head, letting her hair dangle free. "Well, Sugarcube, what can Ah say... Ah'm not much into this mare datin' business, but Ah'm not seein' anything wrong with it and can always feel happy for ya'll. How's it goin'?"

"Thanks, Applejack. I just discovered it yesterday, and discussed it briefly with Rarity, but I haven't done anything... This is the first time I've felt like that."

"Shush, Sugarcube. Sometimes Ah forget that you haven't been into too many experiences." Seeing Twilight deflate a little with her words, she hastily corrected herself.  
"Ah mean, 's not like Ah has too much either. A crush in school, and maybe something else. But not too much these days, as busy as the farm is."

"Yes, I can relate to that. The work at the Boutique is simply too demanding. And truth be told, I am only too happy to lay that aspect off for a while after the whole Blueblood aff... incident. But do not let that be a deterrent to you, darling. You must absolutely at least give it a try. We will all support you, right?"

Five heads nodded.

"I'll be happy if everything goes fine, Twilight." Fluttershy smiled, blushing a little at the thought.

"And then, and then, we can throw a party for you both! It has to be an spectacularizing party, as I think Dashie would say. Oh, I can't wait for that." Pinkie bounced around, having recovered all her cheerfulness.

"Thank you, Pinkie, it will surely be very nice. I'll have to talk to her, though. Well, I'm going to have many opportunities."

Her gaze wandered over to the statue that stood in the middle of the Library, quiet and patient. Her smile grew wider.


	10. First Date

Twilight whistled while reading through the spell books on the table. The evening had turned out to be quite satisfying for her. She had started after they had finished cleaning the park after the contest. The last minute reunion her friends had set up to talk about her personal issue had turned out to be very useful for her, as they, especially Applejack, had supported her strongly.

"This one seems like a good choice... This one as well. Another one."

Twilight mused to herself as she checked book after book. Surprisingly, there was quite an assortment of de-petrifying spells available. She had spent quite a while reviewing the books she had selected with Lyra after her friends had said goodbye and left the library. She set the chosen books apart with the relevant pages marked. She trotted up next to the statue, looking up to it. She still felt the existence of a human was something unbelievable, despite its evidence being in front of her. Its stone form, so apart of a living, talking creature, didn't really help matters; the scarce, ancient information that could be found in some books wasn't very much helpful either. She held to the desire in her heart of finding answers about its existence and how it had come to be in Equestria.

But as of now, there was another significance to its presence, one she was all too grateful for. Thanks to the statue, she had been able to meet and know Lyra Heartstrings, a pony who had come and revealed something new to her, which she hadn't experienced ever since meeting her friends. And she wanted to make sure she wouldn't miss the chance given to her. Setting the spell books apart, she directed herself to another section of the library; among its books there were some that dealt with relationships. On multiple occasions, Rarity and Fluttershy had tried to convince her to read romance novels, but the few samples of reading she had done on those had convinced her they were futile material. She needed true assessment on the matter.

"Now, let's see what can we find in here..."

-

The concert had been quite a success, despite the lackluster nature of the stomping of the crowd before her. Lyra knew better than to expect a heartful ovation from her audience of high-class ponies, but she did not expect in any way the light spectacle that had followed it. Somepony had summoned a sparkle 'rain' and created a perfect reproduction of her cutie mark in the sky. Marveling at the sight, she knew immediately who had performed such an act. She could not help but let the tears flow when she felt her eyes heavy, her tail swatting happily. Once the crying had subsided, seeing as how the audience was entertained looking at the performer of such an act, she retreated quietly backstage. She didn't mind much that the crowd was looking elsewhere as she relished her music being appreciated, and the act that had been performed just for her own sake.

"Bravo! Bravo! You're as magnificent as always, my dear Lyra!"

The one who called to her with an excited voice was a unicorn called Stage Lights. This light orange coated, dirty blonde maned unicorn with a theatre mask cutie mark was the Manne Theatre's manager who set up Lyra's performances there and also lent her a hoof many times when she needed it. He was also the top-billed actor in his acting troupe, residents of the theatre. He, impressively for a pony in the high spheres of entertainment, wore nothing more than a simple black jacket emblazoned with the theatre's logo. Lyra smiled as she approached him.

"Thanks, Stage. I'm pretty happy tonight, the audience was quite good."

Stage looked at her with a pretty mischievous gaze in his dark orange eyes. "That's quite the understatement, Lyra. Everypony outside is talking about the lights. Tell me, dear, who was it?"

The softest of blushes appeared in her face as she confronted the actor. "It was my friend Twilight Sparkle."

He barely contained a gasp, taking a hoof to his mouth to cover it. "Twilight Sparkle, as in Celestia's protegé? The element of Magic?"

Lyra nodded, amused by Stage's over the top reaction. He lowered his hoof and smiled at her.

"My, my, aiming high, aren't we, Lyra?"

"Oh,come on. You know I'm not a climber, Stage..." answered Lyra, clearly quite bothered by his words.

"I'm just teasing you, darling. She is indeed quite a personality, anyway. " Stage trotted lightly to Lyra, smiling deviously. He lowered his voice, though not quite whispering. "In fact, I'll tell you something off-record. There might be in the future, a project concerning the story of the Elements of Harmony... I won't tell you anymore, for the time being, but it is pretty much a sure thing."

This time it was Lyra who opened her mouth widely; she barely avoided dropping her lyre to the floor. "You're not kidding, aren't you, Stage? Because I know you..." Stage's grin only grew wider as he looked at the surprised musician.

"Come around, dear, let me get you a celebratory drink..."

Some drinks and much chatting later, Lyra went straight to the bed in the room. Small beds, packed in equally small rooms, with a closet and a mirror, used by the performers when they had to stay for the night. Lyra floated her lyre to the top of the closet and went to lie down, falling asleep almost instantly.

Lyra woke up pretty early (for her) the next day, fortunately without much of a hangover at all. She packed her things, looked around for Stage to say goodbye to him and head off to the train station to return to Ponyville.

She opened the flat's door to find Bon Bon walking from one side to the other.

"Good timing, Lyra! The contest will begin in only a couple of hours, and I'm picking everything up. Come on and help me."

She found herself putting her things down and being led by her best friend towards the park, in which some more ponies than usual were standing around. As the stage in front was being set, a big oven was being carried by two burly stallions.

"The Cakes were kind enough to lend the equipment for this event. Pinkie did cover the expenses, though. Where does that pony get all her money?"

"Speaking of Discord..."

Pinkie Pie appeared, jumping around as she approached them.

"Hey, Bon Bon! Hey Lyra! Is a nice day today, isn't it?" She greeted them with her usual enthusiasm. Bon Bon just nodded with her head, unable to address what she considered now a bothersome pony. Lyra shook her hoof.

"Yep. Good luck, Pinkie!" Bon Bon cast her a glare, which she ignored. Finally the preparations were done, and the park was slowly filling with ponies. When everything was deemed ready, a filly, who Lyra knew nothing about but had seen around town a couple of times with her friends, jumped out of the crowd and took on announcer duties. The contest officially began.

And then it ended. Lyra had never seen something so painful. For Pinkie Pie, that is. The energetic pink mare had been reduced to a sobbing wreck; most of the onlookers for the contest even flew the place after looking at her. Lyra would've liked to do so as well, but because Bon Bon was involved, she needed to stick around. Fortunately, her friend managed to sooth and comfort the pink mare, and it all had ended up well.

Until, that is, they had to pick the trash up.

"That. Was. Tiring!" she cried to Bon Bon as both made their way back home, carrying the leftovers and their possessions.

"I'm sorry, Lyra," Bon Bon excused herself, "but it had to be done. I'll give you a treat, ok? I'm glad this is all over..."

"Ok!" shouted the unicorn, content with her end of the stick.

After enjoying a good nap with the permission of Bon Bon, Lyra woke up in the tail end of the afternoon, early evening. She rubbed her eyes and looked to the ceiling. She then knew it was time to write another letter.

-

In Lyra Heartstrings's room, there was a trunk below her bed. This trunk housed her clothes for special events and moments,which wasn't very numerous. But also, it guarded a secret. In her study, Lyra sat down at her table. Illuminated only by a single, long candle, whose flickering flame brought a sinister shade to her face, contorted in concentration; she began composing a letter. The words flowed out of her with the same zealous fury she employed when playing her lyre. These letters were written quite constantly, depicting the best and worst instances of Lyra's life, her thoughts, questions and desires.

The letters were meant for both nopony and somepony. They were a focus for the voices constantly nagging at the back of her head, though they would never be delivered. They were all safely guarded under Lyra's clothes in the wooden trunk below her bed, completely sealed and unread by anypony, not even Bon Bon.

She finished her current letter, rolled it, and sealed it with a teal seal matching the color of her coat. She wiped the quil clean and put it in its place, along with the ink jar. She walked to her room, pulled the trunk to her, opened it and floated the clothing to her bed. There was a metallic box at the bottom, not very deep, but quite long. She lifted its lid, lowering it at its side. Inside the long box was quite an amount of parchments, sealed up with the very same seal this last one had. She put it next to the next most recent letter, covered the box again and put the clothes on top of it. Closing the trunk, it went back to its place. She then sat down in the corner of her bed, her tail swatting around softly, her golden eyes looking straight at one of the walls as a painting of Coltzart returned her gaze. It was then that there was a knock at the door downstairs.

She opened up the door to find Twilight at the other side. She was floating a large case and carrying a basket in her mouth which she put down before speaking.

"Good evening, Lyra. Are you doing fine?"

Lyra looked curiously at Twilight, and nodded.

"And Bon Bon, is she fine too?"

"Yes, she's fine. She's resting upstairs now."

"Oh, ok. That's good." The unicorn smiled weakly. "Listen, Lyra. Would you like to come with me and star gaze? I've brought some sweets as well."

Lyra looked at her curiously some more, Twilight's tail swatted around nervously and she looked everywhere but in Lyra's eyes. Finally Lyra smiled.

"Sure, I'd love that."

"That's great! I've got a great spot in mind."

-

"I've never had a ride in a balloon! This is awesome!" Lyra cried, excited, as she and Twilight made their way to Rainbow Dash's cloud house. She had offered it, going to sleep with Fluttershy at her cottage, for Twilight and Lyra to do their stargazing. Twilight blocked out mentally any other suggestions Dash might have made as they neared the cloud. Of course, the cloud walking spell was in full effect and soon they descended the balloon with all their equally enchanted equipment.

"Oh, cloud, you're so fluffy!" screamed Lyra as she jumped around, testing the soft 'floor' below her hooves.

"Careful, Lyra, you might fall over," advised Twilight, between laughs, enjoying the sight of her excited companion. She set up the telescope and next to it the picnic basket. She peered through the lens, looking around until she finally found a suitable target.

"Aha! Come over here, Lyra!

The musician complied and was rewarded with the sight of many of the stars that could be seen in that Equestrian night. Twilight stood next to her, the closest she could without feeling intrusive, though Lyra didn't seem to register anything. She pointed to each star that shone brightly as Lyra looked at it through the telescope and named it. Her heart jumped with each smile, each cry of amazement and each word that came from Lyra's mouth.

They finally decided to lay off the stars for a while. Opening the basket, Twilight revealed all sorts of Apple family delicacies. The smell of the apple based confections filled Lyra's nostrils.

"Thish ish deliciosh, 'light." Lyra attempted to speak with her mouth full of apple cake. Twilight took a hoof to it, closing it.

"Now, Lyra, don't do that... I know the Apple family food is delicious, but show a little decorum, will you?" The musician swallowed and nodded. Twilight approached her, sitting by her side. Both for the first time contemplated and looked down to the town below, the only lights coming from it were the lamps in the streets and some houses. And from there, it was truly a very different sight that at ground level. Lyra didn't speak, just took on the sight quietly. Twilight turned her head and looked at her with a serene gaze. The time rushed past quietly until Twilight decided to finally speak.

"The last days have been quite fun, you know, Lyra."

The addressed pony finally broke her gaze and looked at Twilight.

"They've been a little hard sometimes, and even sad, but they've never been dull. And I've had quite fun days with you."

Twilight looked straight into Lyra's eyes, a gaze which she held. And surprisingly, unexpectedly, she felt her chest warm, despite the cold of the night, even more noticeable up there in the clouds. She smiled softly.

"I think they've been great too, Twilight. I mean, I love my life greatly, but those last days have been simply fun. I'm happy to have them."

Twiilight advanced towards her a couple of steps. "I'm happy to have them too. And I'm happy to have them with you."

The warmth in Lyra's chest intensified as she heard Twilight's words. Her ears perked up and her golden eyes shone brightly. "Um, Twilight-"

"I like you. I like you, Lyra, and this feeling inside my chest wouldn't let me off until I told you, regardless of whatever happened. I've had so little time for this, but I decided to get it out soon. And so, here I am with you, making a confession."

The redness of Twilight's cheeks was only matched by Lyra's own blush, which came soon after as both unicorns looked at each other.

Lyra's mind raced while Twilight just looked at her apprehensively, pawing at the floor, which, given it was a cloud, dispersed slightly. As time passed in silence, Twilight's ears flopped, the warmth in her chest diminishing somewhat. She bit her lip and looked at Lyra with sorrow in her eyes.

"Lyra, I... I just..." stammered the unicorn, only to choke with her own words. Lyra lifted a hoof to wipe Twilight's tears and smiled tenderly at her.

"Don't cry, Twilight. I understand."

Twilight looked at her through gleaming eyes because of the tears. Lyra pushed her mane back and wiped some more tears, before bringing her face nearer to Twilight's

"I'd be happy to share it with you." She deposited a light peck in Twilight's lips before looking into her eyes again, with the same kind smile. The scholar was in shock, just hiccuping. She finally recovered enough to answer.

"Do you mean it, Lyra?"

"Yes, Twilight. Yes I do."

Both mares then embraced, holding each other and closing their eyes. Once again silence fell. They only heard each other's heartbeats. Finally Lyra opened her eyes, speaking quietly.

"Guess you really know how to play the heart's strings, eh Twilight?"

Twilight chuckled, embracing her closer. "That was silly as always, Lyra. But I reckon' you're right."

"Of course I do, Light."

"Light? Hmm... I like the sound of that."

"Then 'Light' you'll be."

"Sounds good to me." They separated, Twilight opened her eyes and both smiled at each other.

"Well, Lyra, how about if we head back and continue tomorrow. You'll be there, right?"

"Of course, Twilight."

They kissed again, this time in a kiss that lingered more, but was still fairly tame, only their lips pressed against each other. It still made each mare feel like if a small electric current had passed through their bodies. They ended their kiss and got into the balloon, descending to Ponyville. Twilight left Lyra near her home, before saying goodbye and heading to the Library.

The next day, the whole group was at the library, with the exception of Applejack, who had loads of work in the farm and couldn't excuse herself so easily anymore. Twilight would later visit her, though, with the convenient excuse of returning the basket and thanking the family -once again- for the food.

They all, of course, demanded the whole story. Twilight wasted no time; in an instant she was sitting at a table with Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and even Spike, despite his insistence in that he was there only to accompany Rarity, sat around her to listen.

"Well, there were several steps. First, after you all left, I did a quick scan in some books that advised about relationships." Rainbow and Spike snickered, Rarity giggled, Pinkie Pie all out laughed and even Fluttershy smiled softly.

"What?! You all know I'm new to all these sorts of things."

"I'm sorry, Twilight dear, we didn't mean to offend you, accept all our apologies," said Rarity while kicking Rainbow below the table, the pegasus had almost opened her mouth.

"Ouch! Watch it!"

Rarity ignored Rainbow's glare. "Please go on, Twilight."

"Well, I did some research and what all these books seemed to have in common was a necessity to make contact and speak. So I decided to do that. I prepared the balloon, getting the basket Applejack had given me ready and then went out. Fortunately, I found Rainbow Dash and she agreed to let me use her house. Thanks, Rainbow Dash."

Dash smirked, making sure to look at Rarity, who just hrumped.

"After that, I went to look for Lyra, and found her. Coming back here, we boarded the balloon and went over to the house, where we enjoyed a session of star gazing as we ate Applejack's desserts."

"Cut to the chase already, Twilight! I don't need all this filler!" screamed Dash. Rarity threw a nasty look back at her.

"Honestly, Rainbow Dash, you have absolutely no tact. However, I must agree with her, Twilight dear. We are expecting to hear the most juicy details, after all."

"Well," Twilight let out an embarrassed chuckle. "After that, I did exactly that and confessed to her."

At this, five pairs of ears perked up.

"So, what happened, Twilight?" asked Pinkie excitedly, letting go all her repressed emotions upon hearing it. Her tail was flopping around and she had a big smile on her face; all the others had curiosity plastered on their faces.

"Well, she was so silent for a while that I thought I had disgusted her. I was going to speak, when suddenly she told me that everything was fine. And she... kissed me..." Her eyes went dreamy when she remembered their kisses. Rainbow Dash, Spike, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy fell over their chairs while Rarity gasped loudly and covered her mouth with a hoof.

"Are you serious, Twilight dear? That was a very unladylike answer for a confession..."

Fluttershy stood up slowly as everyone did around her. "Um, how was it, Twilight? If you don't mind sharing, that is..."

"Right, Fluttershy. Well, the first was simply a light one, ended quickly, but I was still taken aback by it. I wasn't sure what to think or do, so I just asked her if she was being serious, and she said yes; she was willing to try. We kissed again, longer and deeper, though not by much. It was... electrifying."

Rarity summoned a cushion to her before fainting. Fluttershy blushed strongly, Pinkie jumped around singing loudly and Rainbow screamed, lifting her hoof. Spike simply sat there, dumbfounded, looking at Twilight. After some seconds, he recovered.

"So, uh, are you dating Lyra? For real?"

"Yes, Spike, it seems so."

He considered her words while everypony around him recovered. Finally he lifted his gaze and looked at her.

"Well, I don't know what to think, but if it makes you happy..."

She trotted around to him and covered him with her hooves, in a strong embrace. "Oh, thanks Spike. You're a great assistant, and I'm not going to leave you behind, don't you worry." She turned to Rarity. "Rarity, do you have some spare gems we can give to him?"

"Sure, Twilight, dear. I'll look for them later and bring them over."

Spike's face brightened. "Thank you, Twilight, Rarity!"

"Oh, it's nothing, Spike," answered Twilight while nuzzling him. Suddenly a knock was heard in the library's door, and on the other side Lyra's shape could be seen. Five bodies rose from the table.

"Well, darling, I better go and look for those gems, besides I've got quite the workload for today. Ta ta, everypony!"

"I've got to go and make sure Angel hasn't eaten all the carrots again. Poor thing had a stomachache for four days..."

"I'll be in charge of the twins soon, so I better get going!"

"And I've gotta go and make sure those clouds are properly bucked. Well, see you around!"

The four ponies stormed out of the library, not without offering big smiles and greetings to Lyra, who entered the library confused.

"Hey, Light, what was all that about...? Oh, hi, Spike!"

"Hi, Lyra! Excuse me, I've got to go and get something Rarity promised to me." And with that, the small dragon went out and followed his crush, leaving the two ponies alone in the library. Lyra was still dumbfounded for some moments, but then she recovered and trotted to Twilight, nuzzling her softly, making her blush strongly.

"Good morning, sweet."

"Oh, you're just wasting names..." answered the flustered lavender unicorn.

"I don't think it'd be a waste." smiled Lyra.

Twilight smiled as well. "Well, no, it wouldn't. " She looked at the clock, which marked 8:45. "Hey, Lyra. I've got to go and return the basket to Applejack. Would you go with me? We can come back and begin work into the de-petrifying."

"Sure, Light, I'd love to." Twilight went to retrieve the basket as they both exited the Library, walking side by side the path to Sweet Apple Acres.

On the way to the Boutique, Spike stopped, recognizing a familiar feeling. Soon afterwards he expelled a green flame which materialized into a letter. He opened the letter and read it.

_My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle_

_In the past few days, I've been researching de-petrifying methods. I think I've found some suitable ones, but I'm quite busy at the moment. Once my agenda has opened up a little, I'll visit Ponyville and assist you with the freeing of the human. __Until then, keep working._

_Princess Celestia_


	11. Party! Wake up, sleepyhead

"So that gets 'Arcane Sorcery Vol. 2' out of the list, as well."

Twilight sighed as she threw the mentioned book aside, having it land on top of an ever-growing pile of rejected books which stood next to two or three books that hadn't been checked yet. "I suppose being the Element of Magic can only take you so far, huh?"

It was the third day since Twilight and Lyra had put hooves to work in the 'Human Unfreezing Project'. Every spell they had attempted, though, hadn't brought any visible results, and the statue was in the very same state she had found it in. Twilight had read Celestia's letter, but she knew she couldn't simply wait for her to solve things every time. She had begun the work extremely content, not being the lesser reason working alongside her newfound marefriend.

Whenever she was getting too deep into her work, Lyra would drag her outside somewhere, or they would watch stars, or she would play her lyre. It was very effective in soothing Twilight, which, now that she reflected on it, may be a good cause for her not having any breakdown as she usually did.

Said mare approached her and nuzzled her cheek softly, which brought a small smile to Twilight's face as she turned to look at Lyra.

"Let's take a break, ok, Light? We've been here three hours already..."

"Yes, that sounds good. How about going to Sugarcube Corner?

"Cool idea, Light!"

Twilight smiled wider. "Hey, Spike, do you want to go to Sugarcube Corner?" called she out loudly. The dragon's answer didn't take long, as he sped out of the observatory he was cleaning.

"Sure, let's go!"

Spike climbed to his boss, and the three exited the Library. The two mares would walk pretty close to each other, and looks would be still be thrown at them, though mostly of curiosity at the quite strange couple of the librarian and the musician than anything else.

According to Twilight's observation, in Equestria, (well, in Canterlot and Ponyville, but she didn't see any reason for it not to be the same way in other cities, given the mostly uniform equine culture) same-sex couples, especially of the female variation, were not much of a rarity, given the gender ratio among ponies. They didn't have to worry about fertility, there being quite a lot of ways to bypass that barrier, beginning by the quite simple -if only in theory for some cases- adoption method.

Twilight herself had become knowledgeable of some other ways to achieve that through her studies, even though she had never used them. Of course, for them both it was too much early for thinking of true commitment, let alone having foals. She barely managed to suppress a giggle and a blush after that thought.

Living in the relatively small town of Ponyville and being a recent couple had saved them from the paparazzi threat, up until now, even for being a mildly notorious musician and Celestia's student. Twilight hoped it would hold a little more.

"You know, it's still little weird to see you two like this," said Spike as they walked. Lyra turned to look back at him, a smile in her lips.

"I know it's been only a few days, Spike, but aren't you familiar with me by now?" asked Lyra, without losing her grin.

"Yes, I know that. It's only that I would've never expected this, is a little sudden, and with miss Egghead here, I was thinking she'd never get down to that?"

Twilight's cheeks puffed at this, and she shook, forcing the small dragon to cling to her strongly.

"Now what's that supposed to mean, Spike?"

"Heeey, easy there, Twilight! You're always so deeply immersed into your books, that I never believed you'll get out to this. Speaking of which, Lyra, you've been quite relaxed about making the human come back. I thought you'd be more enthusiast."

"I'm enthusiast, Spike! I wish I could see it already, I really do! But stressing myself over it ain't gonna solve anything, and I have so many other wonderful things to do!"

"That makes sense all right. No wonder you've been able to hold Miss OCD here so wonderfully."

Twilight's cheeks puffed again. "You're making me having second guesses about having brought you along in this walk to the bakery, Spike."

"Aww, come on, Twilight..."

Lyra lifted both her hooves, embracing both her marefriend and her assistant. "Come on, you two, don't fight now. Let's enjoy now that we're here."

Effectively, they were now at the door of Sugarcube Corner. The business was moderately busy, but Pinkie Pie still grinned at them from behind the counter. There was seemingly no trace of the anxiety she had prior to the contest, or her most recent fall down.

"Hey, girls, I'll get to you in a minute! Let me clear this out!"

The line became smaller as they waited. When it was finally their turn, Pinkie Pie grinned widely.

"Howdy, Twi, Lyra, Spike? Are you READY for the PARTY tomorrow?" The pink pony bounced with each word, her hair poofy and full of life as always.

"Of course, Pinkie. Just remember to come up early tomorrow, so Bon Bon and I can help you set up things, ok?"

"Okie dokie lokie, Lyra! It's gonna be super duper fun and the bestest party ever since... the last party! And with new friends, too! I simply can't wait for it!"

Twilight was now fearing her friend would rocket through the roof in any moment, though she also smiled.

"We can't wait for it either, Pinkie. But for now, how about you give us some cookies?"

"Yup! Here you go! That's ten bits!"

Twilight paid to her, and the three went out of the store, where the pink pony had released a streamers rain out from nowhere. Lyra didn't even ask about it once, just enjoying the whole situation. They went back to the Library and sat down to eat the cookies.

"I'm glad to see Pinkie back to normal," said Twilight, munching on one of the cookies, which tasted really delicious to her. "I still don't understand what is it that gives her those moments... I think I need to study her comprehensively..."

Spike groaned. "Don't you remember what happened the time that you tried that?"

"I know that, Spike, but this is a different matter. It's about Pinkie's mind..."

Lyra just looked confused from Twilight to Spike. "Just what are you two talking about?"  
Twilight turned to her. "Well, you see, Lyra, there was this one time..."

A windy saturday came upon Ponyville, shaking the trees, pushing around the clouds in the Everfree and making windows rattle, including those in the top floors of the library. Spike jumped out of his bed and onto Twilight's, shaking the lying mare.

"Wake up, Twilight! You've got to go to Zecora's"

He avoided an incoming hoof. Twilight shook herself and rose, her mane and eyes a perfect example of morning look. "You're too pushy, Spike... Why can't Lyra wake me up with her music?"

"Well, sorry for not being Lyra, but I'm still the one in charge of you."

She glared at him from the bed, one gaze he returned.

"I am the one in charge of you, Spike."

"Yeah? So funny, most of the time it doesn't seem like that. Get up for breakfast, anyway." She casted another look on him, but otherwise went to wash herself. When she entered the kitchen, Spike had prepared scrambled eggs with toast and orange juice. She smelled the delicious flavor and sat down.

"Oh, Spike, this looks delicious!" said Twilight, smiling happily.

"See, what did I tell you?" answered Spike, with a smug grin on his face. Twilight decided to leave it at that and get on enjoying breakfast.

"So, anyway, Twi. I'm really excited for this afternoon's party. It had been a while since we had a Pinkie Party! Or any party, really."

"Yes, I'm looking forward to it as well. I just hope Lyra and Bon Bon's home doesn't get wrecked after it."

"Oh, come on. Since when have we wrecked something?"

Twilight cast him another glance; he shrugged.

"I'm sure it'll all be fine."

They both finished eating. Twilight gathered all her materials and set off to Zecora's hut, while Spike remained in the Library organizing it. In another part of Ponyville, Pinkie Pie trotted out of Sugarcube Corner.

"Thanks for the day, Mr. and Mrs. Cake!"

"No problem, Pinkie. You've worked hard the last few days. Go and enjoy it."

"Will do, Mrs. Cake. It's gonna be a great party!" Pinkie waved and bounced away, heading towards Bon Bon's house. She soon made it to her destination and knocked the door of the still closed business. The other earth pony soon opened it.

"Good morning, Pinkie. You're early today."

"Well, duh! Parties need WORK!" cried Pinkie, making Bon Bon cover her ears. She finally let them free.

"That they do... Come on in, Pinkie. Let me go and wake Lyra up."

Pinkie jumped inside and bounced. "OOOH, oh, let me do this, let me do this! I like waking up sleepyheads! I can't do this with the twins now, because they need their sleep, but I'll love doing this to them in the future. I also like waking Rainbow Dash up! She's almost always grumpy, though, but I know how to make her happy!"

Bon Bon put a hoof to Pinkie's mouth, in that movement that Pinkie's own friends were so used to by now. She relented.

"Well, go then, Pinkie. Lyra can be a bit grumpy as well, just so you know."

"No problemo!" The pink mare jumped upstairs merrily.

Lyra turned around in bed, keeping her pillow tightly embraced between her hooves, a big smile adorning her face.

"This Twilight mounting a human cake it's so pretty that I almost regret eating it..."

A stream of saliva left her mouth, travelling until leaking to her bed, leaving a growing spot on her sheets. While she slept peacefully, her door opened very slowly and quietly, letting a light come in. Pinkie Pie tip hoofed into her room, leaving the door wide upen behind her. She approached the bed, her figure seemingly enlarging as she observed the sleeping mare.

_Gosh she looks cute. I can so much understand Twilight! I almost regret doing this! But Pinkie Pie does what Pinkie Pie has to do! _

Suddenly, from her hair, Pinkie somehow produced a pair of cymbals, along with a party whistle. She took a long, deep breath.

(To the tune of the Welcome Song)

_Wake up wake up wake up, it's already day! Wake up wake up wake up There's so much to do! _

Pinkie took away the instruments, looking away briefly. When she turned her look back at the bed, she found it empty. She tilted her head to one side.

"Where did you go to, Lyrie? I didn't sing any song to make you disappear!"

"I'm up here, Pinkie!"

Pinkie looked upside, to where the voice was coming from, and found that Lyra was hanging with her hooves in the ceiling, looking down to her with an annoyed face. Strange, not even she had mastered that...

Lyra fell, landing on her mattress, which softened her blow. She got out of bed and shoof herself. Or more precisely, her body was shaking uncontrolably.  
"Donnnn't eveeeer doooo thatttt agaiiiin, Pinkieee Pieee!"

"Ooops, sorry, Lyrie! I didn't know that could happen." She smiled sheepishly, making the unicorn sigh as she stopped trembling.

"Bon Bon sent you, right?"

"Nope! I voluntereed!" Pinkie's smile was bright and wide. Lyra groaned.

"I definitely need to begin waking up sooner."

Once Lyra was completely back to normal and had washed herself, both mares descended to the first floor, where Bon Bon was waiting for them with oats in the kitchen.

"Oh, Bonnie, I already ate, but I'm not going to say no to you!"

"You really like going around giving nicknames to ponies, don't you...?"

"Yippity yip!"

"You, the elements of harmony, are all crazy..."

After eating, the three put hooves to work hanging, inflating, cooking, baking, and doing everything to prepare the party. The things in the store room got pushed out to the sides to make way for a couple of tables and some chairs. When they were done, it was almost noon. The three mares looked forward to having a break, and sat down in the kitchen, next to each other.

"Preparing a party is always so much harder that it looks," Lyra whistled out.  
"But it's all worth it in the end!" cried Pinkie happily.  
"We've never done a party here, though. I hope it all turns out well," thirded Bon Bon, looking at her two companions.

"Don't worry, Bonnie, it's gonna be only us nine! I don't think there's gonna be much of a problem!" Pinkie Pie smiled innocently. Neither Bon Bon nor Lyra ate it even for a second.

"Pinkie Pie, you're here," chanted both friends in unison. The pink mare simply answered with a silly grin. They sat in silence for a while, even Pinkie Pie not saying a single thing, until Bon Bon turned to look at her.

"Pinkie?" asked Bon Bon quietly.

"Yup?"

"I know I've already asked you this, but why did you come up with the contest? I can't still wrap my mind around it."

Now the pink mare turned to look at her, her bright blue eyes turning serious for a small second, while her lips formed a pout, but it was more like she was very concentrated. She finally smiled, but it was a different smile from her normal one, a more subdued one.

"I've been an apprentice for some years now, and I think I've learned enough things to be succesful. However, for some time now I've been thinking that there's something lacking to it. However, I haven't been able to put my hoof in it, despite spending large amounts of time thinking on it. " Pinkie summoned a cupcake from inside her mane and bit at it, before stashing it away again. She chewed on it for a while before finally swallowing.

"And I've seen you, you know? I've seen how you take your business and make it good. And somewhere, deep inside my mind, I thought that was what I wanted. But I didn't know what to do... And I didn't want to ask Mr. or Mrs. Cake. I didn't want them to think I was abandoning them..." Pinkie's hair deflated a little. "And then I listened to Spike comparing your sweets to mine, and I just wanted to see that I at least could be recognized for something... Yes, I do the bestest parties this side of Equestria, if not all of it, but a lot of it comes from my baking job. "

While Pinkie speaked, Bon Bon and Lyra just looked at her, listening.

"Well, Pinkie, you know," said Bon Bon, getting closer to her, "I was able to start this up with the help of my parents. I think you've seen them. Thanks to them both, I was able to put my talents into practice and begin this small shop. It might not be the greatest, but it's my pride and I'm happy with it. We all ponies need to look ahead, and see what is it that we really want, and what are we going to do about it. Lyra here... well, that's really her own story.. How about your parents?."

"My dad was the one who sent my here. He's an old acquaintance of Mr. Cake, they met when dad made trips to Ponyville. Mom and dad work on a rock farm. Its business is to sell rocks to construction projects and other places in need of it. It has been declining, due to the development of new materials, but my parents still work diligently. Out of three sisters, two of us left to pursue other careers, and one stayed behind. However we help as much as we can..."

While talking, Pinkie looked towards Lyra on the other side. She saw the face of the silent unicorn, expressionless, looking up, and decided to better not ask about it. She looked back at Bon Bon.

"So, what should I do?"

"If you want, you could take up on my offer. I could use a helping hoof around here. Lyra's good sometimes, but she has her own things to take care off. And if you want to break off, I could help you, don't you think?"

Pinkie meditated it, chewing on another piece of cupcake, for a while. Bon Bon was just looking at her.

"Yes, I'd like to do that. I'd like to have a better opportuniy of business."

The two mares looked at each other, extending their hooves, and shaking them. On the other side of Pinkie, Lyra smiled.

They took a break, just resting around in the kitchen, when finally, there was a knock at the door. First arrived Twilight and Spike, then Fluttershy and Applejack, followed by Rarity and finall Rainbow Dash, who almost crashed against the house in her flying rush.

"Sorry, gals, I guess I got a lil' bit excited, he he..." Dash rubbed the back of her head with a hoof,laughing sheepishly, before being jumped on by Pinkie Pie, who smiled on top of her.

"That's a-ok, Dashie! I know you couldn't wait for your Auntie Pinkie's party!"

"Ooof..! Pinkie Pie, we're the same age! And you're heavy!"

"Don't git yer horses all riled up, Dash! Ah brought a lil' somethin' Ah think yeh're goin' to appreciate!" Applejack pulled out from her saddlebags two thermos. Dash's face lighted up.

"Is that what I think it is?!"

"Eeyup! The Apple family's super special Cider. And by super special Ah mean fermented, if y'all catch my meaning" Applejack winked, while ducking to the side to avoiding an incoming Rainbow Dash. "Now hold it there, Sugarcube. This here cider is fer all o' us, and certainly for a little later."

Having barely avoided a collision, Rainbow Dash pouted. Everyone else laughed. They all went to have fun the whole afternoon, playing, singing, drinking, eating and laughing until the point of exhaustion. They decided to end the part when the sun was falling down in the horizon. Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy and Rarity said goodbye and went to their own homes, Lyra went on to accompany Twilight and Spike. Pinkie Pie remained behind to help Bon Bon clean the house; they all had offered, but the two mares insisted they'd be enough.

"Hey, Lyra, don't you think Pinkie was acting even more hyper than normal?" asked Twilight out of the blue. Lyra looked at her.

"Well, Light, I wouldn't know. I don't know Pinkie all that well yet, honestly." Lyra smiled and nuzzled Twilight. The truth was that they had resolved not to tell anypony anything before Pinkie had sorted herself out with the Cakes and her parents and things were going well. Twilight looked at her, but decided to change the topic.

"Well, there hadn't been a party in a while, anyway. I guess she was just excited. Say, you're coming tomorrow afternoon,right?"

"Of course! I hope we're a little more successful tomorrow! I can't wait!"

Twilight laughed, and looked at her marefriend as they made it to the Library's door. Spike immediately dismounted her, and made a run for the inside, claiming about how gross was it all.

"Thanks for coming here," said Twilight, looking into Lyra's eyes, which reflected into hers.

"Aww, it's nothing, Light. Coming here with you is the best."

They both smiled and shared a kiss under the streetlamps' light. They let the kiss linger as much as they could before breaking apart. Both they eyes were shining.  
"Good night, Lyra."

"Good night, Twilight. Will see you tomorrow."

"I'll be waiting for it."

Twilight watched Lyra leaving, and her heart soared with her vision. She really needed to talk to Celestia, and hoped the Princess would be less busy soon.

Twilight managed to wake up by herself the next morning, just as the sun was beginning to rise in the sky. She got out of bed and decided to let Spike sleep. The small dragon had had quite a lot of fun the past afternoon, even if Twilight hadn't let him touch a drop of the alcoholic cider. Not that she had touched much of the drink, even if she had wanted to; Rainbow Dash had in the end drank a whole thermos all by herself, leaving the other eight mares to share the other one.

_Hey, this is all too delicious!_

Twilight chuckled to herself as she prepared some simple breakfast for the two of them. Hay, apple juice and toast would do, she surmised, as she wouldn't have to cook anything. Maybe someday she would have to learn, but for now it was enough. She ate quietly and left Spike's portion in the table. Owlowyscious, of course, made his own huntings, and they left food for Peewee, though Twilight was suspecting that the nocturnal bird was teaching the small phoenix about his own particular eating habits.

Spring was getting warmer, announcing the approaching arrival of summer. She knew that a good amount of rain was scheduled to fall during two or three days, but that day wouldn't be until the evening, so she didn't need to worry. She greeted many ponies during her trek to the hut, until finally arriving. She knocked at the door.

"Come on, my dear unicorn," answered the zebra's voice from the inside. Twilight opened the door and entered being received by the usual sight from Zecora's residence. The zebra was standing next to a carpet, above which were collected several differently colored leaves.

"These, Twilight, are Emotion Leaves. They are truly worthy pieces. From the colors of this set, I will tell you what you'll get"  
"As their name would indicate, they will a certain emotion activate. For it to break free, you need to drink its tea."

Zecora began to point to the different leaves. A deep black one was known as Betrayal Black, and it caused the one who drank it to turn his or her back on comrades. Another bright red one was Rage Red, which caused the drinker to become really angry. Obnoxious Orange, Rushing Rainbow...

They put the leaves to the test, by making tea out of a bright green leaf, called Gentle Green. Once the beverage was ready, taking on the very same color of its leaf, Twilight drank from the cup. Some moments later, she felt a very calm feeling descending upon her. She put the cup apart and sat down, relaxing. The outer world seemed like it had been cut out from her mind, as she simply took on a resting stance. Zecora took another, dark blue leaf, working with it. Neutral Navy, its tea restored Twilight to her normal state.

The unicorn was amazed by it, and took very detailed notes on all the colors as well as taking some leaf samples for her to work with. She thanked Zecora for her lessons and promised to be there next week. When she exited the hut, she could see the clouds beginning to amount over Ponyville and hurried to the village.

She made it to the Library. Stashing the leaves in a box that she floated to her room along with the notes on them, she went back downstairs to begin other studies. When she made it to the floor, she stopped surprised, however. Alongside Spike, in the main room was Princess Celestia herself. Twilight walked up to her mentor, bowed and greeted her.

"Princess, I didn't expect to see you here today!"

Celestia smiled warmly. "I did want to give you a surprise, Twilight. You're not the only one who can have them, you know?"

Twilight looked at her with a guilty smile. "Oh, yes, my faithful student. You have many things to tell me. But I can wait. For now I wanted to come here and help you with that which Lyra and you are looking forward to so much. But I see that she isn't around here. So shall we wait?"

They didn't need to wait at all, because, as if cued, Lyra came inside in that very moment.

"Light, I'm ready! Oh, Princess!" Lyra bowed respectfully before approaching them.  
"It's good to see you, Princess."  
"I'm glad to see you as well, Lyra. I'm happy that you've keep your promise, and sorry that I couldn't go to your last concert."

"It's ok, Princess. When I get other one, I'll tell you, to see if you can go, as well as Princess Luna."

"We would be very grateful, Lyra." Celestia signaled for the three to come over to her.

"Now, my little ponies, and Spike, I think that it's time for us to unveil a mystery."

Lyra's face shone brightly. "You don't mean, Princess...!"

Celestia nodded. "That's exactly what I mean, and that's one of the reasons I came here."

Celestia turned around to look at the statue, while the other did the same, expectant. Especially Lyra, the gleam in her face betrayed her, as did her tail swatting happily. Celestia's horn began to glow in her kind yellow shine, which soon wrapped itself around the statue as well. It covered the stone, and began to shine even brighter, ascending from the base until its head.

There was a sound like a cracking, and soon, where pure stone once remained, a young human could be seen staggering. Albert Jones fell flat on his rear on the floor of the Library.

"Ouch."


	12. Albert Jones Twilight Sparkle

A small author note: This is a fixed version of the chapter, containing two small but very glaring errors for which I'm sorry, I derped there ;3 Thanks for your understanding.

Twilight, Lyra, Celestia and Spike watched as the human fell backwards, sitting on its rear. It looked at them for a moment, before falling slowly to the floor. Twilight caught it with her magic before it could knock its head against the wooden floor. She deposited its figure softly on the floor and released the hold. They approached it and lowered their heads to examine its figure. The human was sweating profusely. Celestia put a hoof on its forehead.

"The human seems to have a strong fever running. Do you happen to have something for it, Twilight?"

"Yes! Zecora gave me some herbs that would help. At least, I hope they'll help, I don't know how a human might react. Spike, bring some ice in a bag to put on its forehead."

Spike complied, running upstairs. Celestia and Lyra stood over the human, keeping a vigilant eye on it. Lyra was shining with glee, despite its less than optimal state, which didn't escape the Princess' attention. Outside, the rain began to fall. First a light sprinkle, it soon escalated into a small storm, big droplets hitting against the windows.

"Pretty interesting, isn't it, Lyra?" smiled the Princess, looking at her. She smiled as well, nodding energetically.

"Ever since a friend told me stories about humans, I've been interested in them. I never thought that I would get to see one, though!" She let out a burst of giggles. Spike appeared in that moment, carrying a towel and an ice bag. He put the towel on the human's forehead and the ice bag on top of it. It stirred a little, but otherwise didn't move. Spike looked at it.

"Such a weird creature... Does it talk, Princess?"

"Yes, Spike, it talks. I've not interacted with them much, and that was a long, long time ago, so I don't remember much of it, but they had more than a few points in common with ponies, really."

They were regarding the creature with interest, when Twilight came back, carrying a small jar with her. Lyra lifted the human's head and opened its mouth for Twilight to pour the jar's contents down its mouth. They laid it down again.

Celestia looked at both unicorns. "Seems like it it's not going to wake up for some time. Would you take care of it until it recovers? When things are ready, send me a letter, Twilight."

"Will do, Princess. Don't worry,we'll take care of it."

"Very well, I'm leaving, then." Celestia vanished in a cloud of yellow light. Twilight approached Lyra and smiled at her, which didn't register in the green unicorn's mind as she was transfixed looking at the creature. Shaking away the jolt of jealousy she felt, Twilight looked at it. Now that she could take in its features properly, she looked at it from up to down, noticing its extremely weird anatomy. If there was any creature in Equestria it structurally resembled, it was a dragon, even if only by its standing position and its possession of legs and arms.

The rest of the evening was spent changing the ice on the human's forehead, keeping it hydrated and watching over it. Lyra did not part from its side, observing the creature with never diminishing interest, while Spike and Twilight went around the Library doing their usual chores, against the background of the falling rain, which only receded after a couple hours. Twilight looked at Lyra a couple of times, but decided let her be, on account of the need to make sure the human was safe. When night fell, Twilight and Spike sat along Lyra with some food to watch over it.

There was a knock and the Library's door. Spike went to open, finding Bon Bon in the other side, covered with a jacket on account of the cold night and carrying another in her mouth, which she dropped briefly to talk.

"Oh, hello, Bon Bon."

"Hello, Spike. It's Lyra around? She hasn't been home in a while and I wanted to see how she was doing..."

"Yeah, sure, come on in. We're watching over the human."

"Oh, so it has been released already. I shouldn't be surprised, then. She always gets excited when that topic comes over." Bon Bon picked up the other jacket and followed Spike to where they were reunited, sitting down next to them.

"Hello, Bon Bon," greeted Twilight with a small smile. This prompted Lyra to look at her side and recognize her friend.

"Oh, Bon, look! The human was freed!"

"Yes, I see that, Lyra." She looked at the lying figure, studying it briefly. "What a weird creature. No wonder you like it so much"

Lyra smiled, turning her attention back to it. Soon however, Bon Bon managed to convince her to call it a night and come back the next day. She agreed enthusiastically.

"See you tomorrow, Twilight! I'm so excited I can't wait. This is the best thing!"

She went out by the door while putting on the jacket Bon Bon had brought to her before Twilight, that was walking towards her, could reach her. The lavender unicorn observed the empty space which her marefriend had just crossed. Her ears perked down a little. "Yes, see you tomorrow..."

Bon Bon approached Twilight with a tender look on her face. "I'm sorry, Twilight. Lyra gets so excited sometimes that things fly over her head. She'll come back tomorrow and it'll be better."

Twilight looked at Bon Bon and smiled weakly. "Yes, they will, right?"

Bon Bon gave her an apologetic look and went out of the door, following her friend. Twilight stared around some more, before shaking her head. She walked over to her night assistant.

"Owlowiscious, I want to you to keep an eye on human, ok? If something happens, wake me up."

"Hoo!" was all the answer the owl provided; Twilight accepted it.

"Good night." She trotted up to her bedroom, where Spike was already sleeping into his basket and after climbing to her bed, tuned out as well.

The falling drops of water woke Twilight up. She looked at the clock and saw that it was only seven o'clock in the morning.

"Guh... Why do they program the rainfall this early, huh?"

She got out of bed, discovering that Spike wasn't around. She walked to the bathroom, cleaning herself.

"Spike!" Twilight called out after coming out of the bathroom.

"In the first floor, Twilight! Come down!"

She walked downstairs to find Spike sitting next to the human, who was devouring carrot after carrot that the small dragon fed him. When he noticed his presence, he turned to look at her. His eyes revised every part of her anatomy, as if he were revising a particularly interesting work of art, until she couldn't bear with it anymore.

"What's it that you're looking at so much?!" she barked out, making both the human and Spike retreat in fear. "Just tell me, you can talk, can't you?!"

"Gee, Twilight..."

The human ate and swallowed the piece of carrot it had in his hand and looked at her. "Sorry, I was just hungry and eating these carrots. And you're... well, you're a pony. You're Twilight Sparkle. And he's Spike..."

"Wait, how do you know my name? I just came here and gave something to eat to you, and I didn't say it at any moment..." asked the dragon, looking at him

"Well, you two speak so loudly..." Spike looked at him for a while, before shrugging.

Twilight approached him. "Well, do you have a name?"

The human stood up. Twilight was surprised, even though she shouldn't, given that she had already seen how tall it was when it was a statue, but looking at it standing by itself and stretching was another issue. She did feel somewhat threatened, even if it wasn't dangerous.

"Yes, my name is Albert. Albert Jones. I seem to have come here from another world and I don't have the foggiest idea how this happened..."

"What a weird name, Albert..."

"Why I'm hearing that from a pony named after a book about shiny vampires?"

Twilight gazed at him, bemused. "What?"

He shook his head. "Don't pay any heed to me." He looked around at his surroundings. "I like this library, is very original."

"Thanks, I suppose..."

"So, now what's..." Albert's question was interrupted, however, as there was a knock at the door. A voice resounded from outside.

"We want to see the human!"

"Miss Sparkle, I thought we had agreed that you'd call me when something interesting happened!"

A multitude of ponies was surrounding the library. Some pressed their faces against the windows, some pounded against the door.

Albert looked around, searching for a hiding place, while the ruckus outside grew louder. Twilight face hoofed.

"Horsefeathers... Spike, write a letter to Princess Celestia telling her the news about the human and that we need her as soon as possible! You, follow him!"

Neither of the two waited for another instruction, scurrying upstairs of a way that brought to mind two lizards escaping. Twilight went to the door, and applied an amplifying spell to her voice.

"Now listen, everypony. Calm down. You might see the human later, but for now, keep your cool, please. This is not going to be advantageous for anypony, so refrain from acting hastily."

This seemed to placate the crowd a little, but now a multitude of voices could be heard speaking outside. Twilight sighed, sitting to keep guard of the door.

Some minutes later, she could feel the crowd outside dispersing. And then another knock at the door. "May we come in, Twilight?" called Celestia's voice from the other side. Twilight hurriedly unlocked the door and opened it. After Celestia, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Lyra came inside. Twilight's heart did a double flip when she saw the mint green unicorn coming in, exchanging greetings with the Princess.

"Hey, Twi, Pinkie Pie says that she has been unable to come around but that she's already planning for the human's party. Heh, that Pinkie...," said Rainbow Dash, looking around. "You know, I liked seeing that statue around. It was cool. Feels weird now."

"So I take it it's recuperated now, isn't it?"

"Yes, Princess. It's upstairs with Spike. Let me call them." She trotted to the bottom of the stairs and yelled loudly, calling for the refugees. They came down after some seconds. When Albert stopped at the bottom of the stairs, he and the ponies who hadn't met him yet shared an open jaw, looking at each other.

Rarity lifted her nose, making a disgusted face. "Urgh, how it smells."

He looked at her with a slight scowl. "Firstly, I was wandering around in the Everfree Forest, and that's not pretty. Secondly, I've spent who knows how long being a stone statue. Finally, when I woke up I was pretty sick and I didn't recover until this morning when a horde of ponies wanted to kidnap me. So I apologize for not being presentable enough to meet you. And I'm not an 'it', I'm a 'he', if you don't mind."

All present, with the exception of Celestia, were taken aback by Albert's words. When Rarity recovered, she affected a small cough and bowed graciously. "Darling, I apologize if I offended you in any way, I just got caught by surprise."

He barely registered her apologies, because Rainbow Dash was circling around him, checking him from all angles. "So you're a human. Can you fly? Nope, you've got no wings. Can you do magic? Dont' see any horn,either... What can you humans do?"

"Rainbow Dash, mind your wings, you're throwing away everything in the library!" screamed Twilight, seeing the storm of papers Dash had created. The pegasus smiled, apologizing and lowered herself to the floor.

"No, I can't do any of those things. I can cook, however, and play some instruments. I think I can do most of the things you can, though," said Albert with a self-sufficient smile. Lyra jumped in front of him.

"You can play instruments? What do you play?!" Lyra almost jumped on top of him, an action that didn't go unnoticed by Twilight.

"Well, I mostly play the guitar, but I can play the keyboard and the trumpet as well. I was studying music back in my world, you see?"

Lyra gleamed, swatting her tail happily. "Oh, you and me are going to get along just fine!"

"I... guess so...," answered the clearly unconvinced Albert.

"My name's Lyra Heartstrings and I play the lyre!" He did as best as he could to avoid rolling his eyes, as did every other mare in the library, except Twilight, who couldn't help but chuckle softly.

After Lyra, every one of the present ponies introduced themselves, except of course, Albert did know their names already, but was silent. When they all had finished and were looking at him, he supposed he ought to say something.

"Well, my name is Albert Jones. I'm a music student, as I told you before and I come from a world called Earth. I don't know how this happened, just that a light brought me here, and I ended up in the forest, where a cockatrice turned me to stone. And then I ended up here, with you."

They all hung on his words, which Spike wrote by Twilight's order. Twilight herself wasn't following the conversation very closely, as she was watching Lyra as the green unicorn looked at the human with a blissful grin. She bit her lip and avoided saying anything, instead willing herself to focus on the conversation.

"Well, Albert, let me give you a warm welcome. This is the land of Equestria, most specifically the small town of Ponyville. And I am the co-ruler of this country, alongside with my sister Luna. I am princess Celestia." The royal mare, the only one that had not introduced herself previously, shining with all her radiance. Albert bowed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty, as well as all of you."

"The pleasure is ours, Albert. There are several things we need to talk about, but as of now, I think you could do well with some more rest. We will go filling you about this country as time passes."

"Thank you kindly, Princess."

After the presentation were over, Albert was dispatched with Rarity so that she could take his measurements and general body shape in order to make clothes for him. She didn't stop asking him all kinds of questions. He was going to take a bath after that. The other mares were reunited in the main library. Celestia floated a piece of parchment to Twilight, who caught it.

"When you can, Twilight, I want you to scan him with this spell. It measures the Chaos resident inside his body. The parchment includes the specifics of the spell and the measuring rates, so don't worry about anything. Once you've got that, send the information to me, all right?"

Twilight nodded, rolling the parchment and stashing it away into one of her favorite books.

"Given the case the level of Chaos in his body is too high, or if we determine he's a threat to Equestria somehow, we have to determine our plan of action. Until then, I don't see any reason not to treat him as we would any other creature. So I'll leave that in your hooves, my little ponies."

"We understand, Princess," answered Twilight, followed by a general nod.

"Then I thank you all and once again take my leave. Call if something happens." With that, Celestia disappeared from the room. The remaining ponies looked at each other.

"I'm kind of excited, anyway. There was the need of something exciting around here, it was becoming boring!"

"Yes, I look forward to study him and see how a human really is. It'll be a hit research!" said Twilight, acting as excited as she could, feeling less than half the glee she projected to the others.

Albert and Rarity came back after a while. He had taken a long, meticulous shower, cleaning himself thoroughly. The talented fashionista had managed to pull out something simple for him to change into, while his other clothes were being washed -Rarity was stumped, for she had never seen something like a couple of jeans and a t-shirt. He would also have to do without underwear.- and her true designs were worked on.

"I must say, Rarity is truly talented, to be able to make something like this in such a short period of time."

"Think nothing of it, dear. It's my duty and my pleasure. Again, this is nothing compared to what I have in mind for you! It's going to be so special!"

"Well, thanks, I'm looking forward to it."

The white unicorn's face shone brightly, and she came forward to hug him. He had to lower himself and felt very awkward; it was the first time in his life hugging an equine, even a sentient, magical one... They finally broke apart.

"Well, there's the issue of where he's going to sleep, I think-" began Twilight, only to be cut off by Rainbow and Rarity.

"Sweet Apple Acres," called the two mares in unison. Twilight nodded.

"Yes, I think that's the best idea. Would you mind taking him? I'm going to fix something up here. You can go too, Spike."

"You sure, Twi? I can help you here."

"That's fine, Spike, I can do it by myself."

"Ok, if you say so."

"Come on, big guy! We'll show you around!" Albert found himself pushed out of the door by Dash, followed by Lyra, Rarity and Spike. The small dragon aligned to Rarity's side, while Lyra trotted alongside the human. Twilight could hear her voice talking animated to him, and saw him turning his head to answer. She closed the door behind her and went upstairs, to the observatory, where she setted up the telescope. Looking at the immense night sky, she found Spica shining brightly.

Tears were soon running down her cheeks, as she recalled the first time they had watched the star together.

_Was I only a tool for her to get to know the human? Was she simply playing along with me? I don't know anything about this... I know nothing... And I'm not sure I want to ask about it..._

The Albert escorting party was walking through the streets of Ponyville. Ponies looked at them curiously as they passed. Albert was taking on the details of the village as they advanced. Sugarcube Corner was already closed, so they couldn't hope for a pastry, but as his new acquaintances assured him, there would be a lot of time for it and much more.

Besides, Pinkie Pie would jump in with a huge party prepared at any moment. He was preparing himself for it mentally. And the questions the ponies threw at him... If he didn't know better, he would believe they were an interrogation squad.

Soon the buildings gave way to a rural path, elevating into a small hill. After making it to the top they could see the Apple family farm in the distance, which still had some lights inside. When they made it to the house, Rainbow Dash knocked. Applejack and Big Macintosh received them. The orange mare was very happy.

"Whoa, you're sure some interestin' guy. The name's Applejack, 's a pleasure meetin ya!" She shook his hand energetically, which made him smile. "And this is mah brother, Big Mac." The addressed pony gave a slight nod of the head." We'll be pleased to have ya with us tonight. Come on, come on. Thanks for bringing him, girls. We'll meet tomorrow!"

He had to crouch slightly to fit through the door, but otherwise he found the house was quite cozy. Applejack escorted Albert towards his appointed room, both followed by the quiet red pony, who nevertheless watched his every step. Rarity, Spike, Rainbow Dash and Lyra walked back to Ponyville chatting amicably between themselves.

Once they made it to Ponyville proper, Dash was the first to break from the group, soaring straight into her cloud home. Rarity, Spike and Lyra continued, walking together, only breaking paths once they had arrived to the park; the small dragon could have floated at the opportunity of walking at the side of the white unicorn, though Rarity herself didn't seem to notice anything.

The musician unicorn trotted straight to her house, her coat shining in the darkness.


	13. Why?

Albert inspected the room that had been assigned to him by Applejack. It was small, but cozy, with a small bed and a wooden closet against one of the walls being its only furniture. He sat on the bed and found it was pretty comfortable. His room had a window; he walked up to it and looked through it to find the orchard's trees covered by the night shadows. It was quiet, really quiet and peaceful.

Outside of his own home back on Earth he could only see buildings and cars all the day. Here, he could hear crickets chirping outside, he thought he saw a bird soaring through the field and it was generally calm and peaceful. He sat back in the bed. His thoughts finally flashed to his mind memories of his home, of his friends and of the great jump he had taken across dimensions. He wasn't sure of anything that had happened to him and he wasn't sure if he would ever be back, but that would not be for lack of trying. Albert knew that from the next day onwards things would be really different. He laid on the bed, reaching for a soft pillow and resting his head on it, but it became obvious after several minutes had passed that no sleep would come to him soon.

He opened the door to his room slowly, being very careful, and stepped outside, closing it with the same carefulness. It was very dark inside of the house, with no lights to guide him; he walked very slowly, feeling his way around. He finally found the house door and walked outside, being greeted with full force by the light reflected by the moon in a clear sky. The air was cool and he shivered, not having anything particularly covering his arms and head.

He looked around. There were plenty of apple trees everywhere. The barn was behind the house. He wanted to explore more, but in the cover of darkness he wouldn't have much of a chance. Then he heard the foots... hoofsteps closing from behind and turned in time to see Applejack coming over to him. She had a bat in her mouth which she dropped once she was near him. He decided to just roll around and accept that ponies somehow played baseball; he had read enough to know that the ones that just accepted stuff were the ones that fared better.

"Albert? What'cha doin' out here, Sugarcube?"

He looked down at the orange pony,who was looking at him with a serious expression. "Well, I couldn't sleep and just went outside to get some air and... see things. I didn't mean to wake you up."

"That's nothin', we Apples have it light, well except for Granny Smith, o' course, and Ah had just laid down when Ah heard some noises. Turns out it was a very big bug." She smiled at him and he returned it. He then looked back at the trees.

"I haven't seen it properly, but you have a very nice farm."

"O' course, Sugarcube. This is our family's pride and joy, after all." The orange mare smiled even wider, though he couldn't see it very well.

"Well, you know, I hadn't ever seen a farm. I hadn't even ever been in a town as small as Ponyville. I live in a big city and everything's so different..."

"Ah know them big cities. Ah know they gotta be good or else why would any pony choose t' live there? But personally Sugarcube, there's nothing like the tranquility of the farm and the certainty of knowing you have your hard work and your life here."

"Yes... Yes, I know that, Applejack."

Behind them, in the house, lights were switched on. Soon, Big Mac, Granny Smith, and Apple Bloom came from the house, joining with them.

"Applejack, what's all this ruckus y'all are doin' in the middle of the night? Ah appreciate y'all bringin' friends to the farm, but we need to sleep."

A merely half awaken Apple Bloom rubbed her eyes, yawning. "Yeah, Applejack, Ah want to sleep."

"Sorry, y'all. Ah'm plum tired mahself, as well..." Applejack followed her sister with a bigger yawn. She turned to look at Albert. "Wanna go to bed? Ah'll give you some warm milk if ya want."

"No, that's fine, Applejack, thank you. I'm sorry, everypony, let's go."

And they all, including the big red stallion who had simply remained silent during it all, went back into the house and to their sleep.

On that same night, in the Library of Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle was turning around in her bed, unable to go to sleep, as she recalled the day in her head. The bed was creaking, and her mind was turning in all directions, her mane unkempt, flowing at all sides and her eyes gleaming, with the trail of tears in her cheeks. Spike woke up, annoyed.

"What's the matter with you, Twilight?! Are you planning the days of let's bother Spike when he's sleeping? I have to get to work early, unlike you, you know!"

The lavender mare just looked at his assistant, retreating in her bed as much as she could. She started sobbing and then went to all out crying, tears flowing freely. Spike felt the pang of guilt in his stomach, and climbed to the bed.

"I'm sorry, Twilight... Don't cry, is alright... What's the matter?"  
As the disturbed unicorn kept crying, Spike went to the kitchen and poured a large glass of water. He came back to the room and approached his boss.

"Twilight, is ok... Here, drink this... Don't cry anymore, let's speak."

Twilight slowly calmed, taking sips from the glass. Her breathing slowed, her eyes were bloodshot and she looked at her assistant between slight hiccups. She finally spoke, her voice not much louder than Fluttershy's. "Sorry about this, Spike..."

"No deal there, Twilight. What is this about?"

The lavender unicorn choked back tears, gulping. "Well, it's... it's... it's Lyra, Spike. She barely noticed me at all yesterday... All she did was follow that human around, like he had a leash around her. Why, Spike, why?" She could feel the tears pushing to come out again, and he must have felt it, because he pulled her into a strong embrace.

"Oh, not any more of that, Twilight. I don't know about Lyra, but I think that you must talk to her." She sobbed slightly, rubbing her eyes, washing the tears away. They remained in silence for a while, Twilight having at last recovered her normal state.

"I suppose that's what I should do..."

"I'll bring you another glass, and then we'll go to sleep, ok?"

She nodded silently, waiting for the small dragon to return.

The sunlight carried away the darkness, signaling the new day. The early rising ponies were long ago up and about, going into their business, while the most late staying ponies turned around in their beds.

On Sweet Apple Acres, that meant every pony was working. Apple Bloom left for school, Granny Smith tended the house and Applejack and Big Mac worked on the fields. The human sleeping on the same house just opened his eyes. He was greeted by his first daybreak in Ponyville. Getting out of bed, he yawned and exited the bedroom, looking for a bath.

"Why hullo there, young 'un!" called Granny Smith's voice from behind him. He turned around to find the old mare smiling at him. "Care for some breakfast, sonny?"

"Yes, I'd like that, Granny Smith, but I'd like to go to the bathroom first."

"Oh, it's that door there, sonny. I'll wait for you in the kitchen over there!" The Apple matriarch walked by his side, entering through another, wider door. After going to the bathroom, he entered the kitchen, where the smell of hot apple pie filled his nostrils.

"That smells delicious, Granny Smith!"

"Here, young 'un, eat ta yer heart's content!" In the table Albert sat at, there were slices of apple pie, apple juice, bread and butter. It was slightly different from his usual breakfast, but he took them and ate contentedly until he felt full; he had woken up really hungry. The old mare watched him eat with a kind smile on her lips.

"Ya know, boy. There's few things Ah like more than ponies.. and others... enjoyin' the Apple family food."

"Well, you can be sure I enjoyed it, Granny." His gaze fell on a calendar on the wall that indicated the day. It was Monday, apparently. From a window in the kitchen some of the fields could be seen. They took on really different qualities under the moonlight. He turned back to his host.

"Say, Granny Smith, could you tell me some stories?"

The mare's grin grew even wider. "Come over here, boy."

-

"Mail!" announced the wall-eyed pegasus as she arrived in front of the Candies and Pastries' Shop. Bon Bon smiled to her.

"Good morning, Derpy! Doing fine today?"

"Yes! Very much fine, thanks, Bon Bon!" answered the light grey pegasus, flapping her wings excitedly. She rummaged in her saddlebag and selected several letters, passing them to the earth pony. Then, the blonde mailpony went on her way, waving goodbye to Bon Bon.

"Have a good day!"

"Bills, bills... An invitation to Lyra from Fillydelphia.." Bon Bon tucked this one away in the counter. "...an invitation from Canterlot and one from Manehatten." She trotted over to the kitchen and put all the letters on top of the table, going back to the front. She soon heard Lyra coming downstairs.

"Hey, Lyra! There's breakfast in the kitchen, along with some invitations for you in the table."

"Thanks, Bon, I'll check them out. Good morning!"

"Good morning!"

Lyra entered the kitchen and floated the food and the letters next to her, sitting down. While eating, she checked the invitations. Both were invitations for clubs; a invitation for next Sunday in a centric Canterlotian club, and another for the Friday after that in Manehatten. She finished eating, and trotted upstairs with the letters, setting down in her study to write down the answers.

She finished composing the letters, and decided to practice a little before going out to the post office. She floated her lyre back to her, closing the door and began plucking the strings with her magic.

Derpy Hooves finished her morning round in urban Ponyville. She had a delivery for Sweet Apple Acres and so she set off the path towards it. Flying was all well and cool, but she also liked to feel the ground below her hooves, and the path to the Apple family farm was one of the best walks she could get. She trotted, her saddlebags hitting her flanks constantly, until making it through the door and walking up to the house. She was about to knock when she was startled by a voice coming from behind her.

"Why, if it's no one but Derpy Hooves herself! Good mornin', Sugarcube!" She turned around to meet a smiling Applejack, and quickly gained a smile of her own.

"Good morning, Applejack. How are you doing?"  
"Ah'm doin' mighty fine, girl. How about y'all? How's Dinky?"

"We're fine, thanks, Applejack! Here." The mailmare handed the farmpony a couple of envelopes. She then started trotting outside. Applejack called out to her.

"Why all that hurryin', Sugarcube? Why don't y'all eat somethin' with us here for a change?"

"Thanks, Applejack,but I've got to pick up Dinky and have lunch with her. See you later, bye!"

"That' fine. G'bye, Derpy. Thanks for the mail!"

Applejack then entered the house, where Big Mac was seated at the table and Granny Smith and Albert went around the kitchen, picking things up and carrying them to the table. She trotted to a cupboard and placed the envelopes in there.

"Hello, Applejack. Having a good day?" asked the human, putting plates around the table. Granny then served generous portions of salad in each one.

"A mighty good one, indeed. How about y'all? Ah see you're being helpful to Granny, that's good."

"Yes, Granny here just told me a couple of stories about Ponyville and the farm. They were all very interesting."

The elder mare smiled while putting on the table a large bowl filled with apple fritters. "It's not all the days that you see one of them hee-umans, don'tcha? He's a pretty good boy."

The door opened and Apple Bloom came inside. "Ah'm home!" The filly tossed her backpack aside and trotted into the kitchen. "Howdy, everypony! It was a long morning at school..."

"Yeah, just sit down and let's eat, Apple Bloom, ya can tell it all afterwards. Come here, little sis'." Apple Bloom complied and they all sat down to eat.

Albert ate his salad slowly. He wasn't accustomed to eating only salad, and upon finishing -while the family did the same around him and chatted animatedly, Big Mac adding one or two sentences to the conversation sporadically- he munched on two apple fritters. He could still feel hunger inside, but he decided not to bother the generous family anymore. Finally, they all ended. He rose up and took his plates to the sink, washing them. All the family did the same.

"Well, Sugarcube, it's about time we went back ta town and see what are we goin' to do, right?"

Albert nodded, and Apple Bloom jumped in front of them. "Kin Ah go with ya? Yes, yes, yes, yes?!"

"Yeah, come on, Sugarcube, but don't forget your homework afterwards."

The small filly lifted a hoof and pressed it against her chest, affecting a serious expression.

"Word of Crusader!"

Albert did his best not to have a heart attack at the cuteness and go down petting the filly, knowing he would probably not come out of it unscathed. Soon, he walked alongside the two sisters in the path to Ponyville. The sun hung in its zenith, directly over them.

Lyra floated the lyre back to its place, and carrying the letters with her, grabbed a saddlebag from her room. She stuffed all the letters inside and went downstairs.

"Hey, Bon, I'm taking some letters to the mail and will go to the Library!"

"Take care."

"Thanks, you too." Lyra nuzzled her friend lightly before going on her way. She soon made it to the office, sending the two answer letters off. She continued her path to the Library, entering the tree.

"Good morning! she called out to both Twilight and Spike, who turned around to look at her.

"Oh, good morning, Lyra!" said simply the small dragon, hurrying upstairs. She followed him, dumbstruck, until looking back to Twilight, who was simply looking at her.

"Did something happen?"

The lavender mare screamed. "No!" Lyra looked at her, Twilight chuckled nervously. "No, I mean. Nothing happens, right? Nothing!"

Lyra just looked at her some more, before relenting and going towards her, levitating her letters out of her saddlebag. "Hey, look at this, Light!"

Beaming, Twilight picked up the letters Lyra showed her and read them. She smiled. "Oh, these are really good news, Lyra! Are you going to go?

"Of course! I've already sent the responses. They should give an answer soon. It's all very official-like, but I'm getting there!"

Twilight kept her smile, and reached to her marefriend, embracing her. Lyra acquiesced and Twilight felt everything falling into place. They separated soon after.

"What were you doing, Light?"

"Oh, I was just reading a treatise on ancient magic. Just an old reference book."

"Which reminds me I should probably get one or two books for reading. What do you think it's good?"

They started scouting the shelves, which occupied them for the best part of an hour. They were only interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Hey, Twi, we're here!"

Applejack and Albert -Apple Bloom had been sent back to do her homework- entered the Library. Upon seeing the human come inside, Lyra dropped a book she was holding and trotted over to him.

"Oh, it's you, how' everything going? Are you feeling better? How've you find Ponyville?" The giddy unicorn flipped her tail excited, her eyes shining. Twilight's ears fell down. She picked up the book Lyra had dropped and put it in a pile they had been building for Lyra to choose. She shook herself out of it when she saw Applejack was coming to her.

"Well, Ah don't think we've got anything to worry with this one guy. But's better if ya use that special spell o' yours, right?"

"Yes, Applejack, when the right time comes.."

Applejack looked at her friend. "Sugarcube, yeh're all right?" She looked at her friend, knowing there was something deep inside her.

"Yes, I'm fine, Applejack, I just read a bit too much..."  
"Come on, Twilight. Ah kin see it from a mile."

"I'm telling you I'm fine!" The earth pony stepped back; Albert and Lyra were too distracted to notice anything.

"Ok, ok, hold yer horses, I was just trying ta help y'all."

"Yes... I'm sorry, Applejack, I shouldn't have screamed at you. Everything's just fine, don't you worry, please."

Twilight approached the human and his unicorn fan.

"Albert," called her with a raised voice; Albert couldn't help noticing something hidden inside it. Both looked at her.

"The Princess has said that she will get out a Document of Equestrian Residence for you in the next few days, so you shouldn't worry about legal issues. We're going to have to find you a job, but that shouldn't be difficult. We'll be researching methods to make you come back to your world as well."

Albert listened, and nodded. Sure things were very much more complicated that the standard HIE fanfic made them look like...

"For now, you should go see Rarity, she wanted to see you. You can go with him, Lyra."

"Oh, I'd love to. Let's go, Albert!"

Albert, sensing the dark aura that enveloped the room -which apparently only Lyra was incapable of feeling, as the green mint unicorn danced happily around, complied. Both left for the seamstress.

"Um, well, Ah think it's better for Ah to come back to the farm. See ya 'round, Twilight!"

"Yes, take care, Applejack."

Once the earth pony had left, Twilight trotted upstairs, Spike was sweeping the stairs.

"Spike, please take care of the Library. Also, you can find somewhere to stay at, I'm not going anywhere." She entered her bedroom and closed it; Spike heard the click of the lock behind him. He went downstairs to clean the main floor when Applejack approached him.

"Ok, Sugarcube, what d y'all know?"


	14. Going around in circles

Few were the things Big Macintosh did love more than a hard day of work at the farm. He woke up with the chirping of birds outside; the horizon was just beginning to clear with the light of dawn. He leapt out of bed and went to wash himself, coming back to put on his yoke.

Usually he would have no problem shaking himself awake, but he found that being woken up in the middle of the night, albeit for a short time, had left him with not enough rest. He wouldn't let stop him, though. He passed by the room where the human was sleeping, throwing only a brief look towards it before continuing on his path, going out of the house.

The cold breeze that greeted him as he approached the orchard hauling some bushels did its work of waking him up perfectly. He set up the bushels around some trees and chose the first one to begin the job. Once he had finished with some trees, seeing the sun beginning to rise, he headed home, finding his grandmother and sisters, who greeted him enthusiastically.

"Good mornin'," he said simply, sitting down. He noted how it was only his family around, which was way better for him. After finishing, he went to his part of the orchard, while Applejack headed further west. He spent a little more than an hour filling the bushels, finally loading the cart with them.

Before he could go and hitch himself to it, though, the cart began to roll by itself, going forward until it went down a ladder, gaining a speed that prevented Big Mac from stopping it, ultimately crashing at top speed against the trunk of one tree. The cart upturned, sending its content flying. All the bushels fell down, the apples falling al over the place. He reached the spot, letting out a powerful snort. He turned up the cart and the bushels, setting off to pick up the apples.

Two hours later, he had finished his chore, setting once again the bushels in the cart. He trotted uphill, pulling the cart, until finally getting to the barn and unloading the apples. He flexed his muscles, alleviating the slight pain, and went on to set some more bushels around trees before hearing Granny Smith's call for lunch. He turned back and went inside the house, content despite the unexpected setback.

He entered the kitchen to find Granny Smith and the human going around the kitchen, setting things up for lunch and chatting animatedly. Her grandmother noticed him.

"Hullo there, Macintosh! Y'all doin' fine?"

"Eeyup," answered simply the stallion, feeling the human's gaze over him. The human didn't say anything, though.

Soon Applejack and then Apple Bloom came in. They sat down to eat, and he followed their conversation mostly silent. When they finished, Applejack and Apple Bloom went out with the human to take him to Ponyville. He excused himself and went back to the orchards.

-

"... and that' how Twilight and me brought you inside of the Library. I couldn't believe my eyes that day!"

Lyra finished her story happily. A metric tape was floating around Albert's body, taking different measures, as he listened to Lyra. The mint green unicorn was certainly very energetic, but at the same time that seemed to make her quite flighty. She had not stopped flashing him with questions during the trip from the Library to the Boutique.

"Thanks for taking care of me. I should talk with Twilight afterwards."

"Most certainly, darling. These two were very much interested in you and took great care of your petrified form. I must say that is not a form I would like to be any time soon. Twilight herself has experienced it. She said that it was like being deeply asleep, but didn't elaborate too much on it."

Albert scratched his chin. "Last thing I remember was the cockatrice looking directly to my eyes, and some memories I was having. After that it all went dark... It could be as Twilight says, really. I wouldn't want to be trapped like that ever again."

"I wouldn't wish that on anypony, though..." Rarity cut herself mid-sentence and the tape briefly fell to the floor. She coughed affectedly and picked up the tape. "Sorry, darling, got a bit distracted there."

Albert and Lyra both looked at her, but did not say anything.

"Voilá, this is done!" announced Rarity proudly, as she rolled the tape, putting it away. "Next step would be drawing. A little challenging, but you are not that much different from Spike, so it shouldn't take much time. She floated some pieces of fabric of different colors towards them.

"What colors do you like, Albert?"

"Green, green!"

"Lyra, dear, while that could work very well with you, it wouldn't go like that for him. He need something more sober. I would vouch for this dark blue myself."

He looked at the fabric she was floating in front of him. "Looks fine to me."

"Marvelous, darling!"

She trotted to the other side, dropping the fabric and picking paper and a pen. She began drawing feverishly. "I'm so excited, this'll be FANTASTIC!"

"I think she's gonna be a bit busy for a time." Lyra turned around to look at Albert, beaming. "Do you want to know Ponyville proper?"

"Take me, then," said Albert, though he wasn't sure about going out with the giddy unicorn, now sewing implements were floating around everywhere, and so they sped out of the Boutique.

The confused pony let out futile protests as Applejack pushed her out of the Library.

"No books now, Sugarcube. Come back later." She closed the door behind her, locking it and coming back to Spike's side. Both sat at one of the tables.

"What were you tellin' me, Spike?"

"Yeah... Ever since the human appeared, Lyra has been obsessing over him and Twilight felt ignored. I told her to speak with Lyra, and she was going to do just that, but then the human appeared and it all fell down. She then dispatched everyone and now she's locked herself up."

The small dragon looked up at the pony, confusion written in his face. "Should I write to the Princess?"

The earth pony shook her head. "None o' that, Sugarcube. We've got to fix up this bad business ourselves. Let's git on."

Spike followed Applejack upstairs, both stopping in front of Twilight's bedroom. The earth pony called loudly.

"Twilight!"

No response came from the inside. Applejack pounded on the door, only to notice her hoof bouncing back. She looked at the door and back at her hoof.

"Your fancy magic ain't gonna stop me a bit, Twilight! Open that door or Ah'll bring it down!"  
Once again there was no answer from inside.

"For Celestia's sake, Twilight. This is not how y'all go about it!"

Bothered by the lack of response, Applejack retreated until the other side of the stairs. Spike looked at her.

"Um, Applejack, if you're planning to do what I think..."

She paid no heed to him, scratching the floor with her hoof, her green eyes focused in the door in front of her. She snorted.

"Applejack..."

It was too late, as Applejack pounded all her body against the door, shifting her weight to fall against it. A lavender glow appeared around the door and the earth pony was pushed back with great force, colliding with the opposite wall. She let out a big wail of pain, falling on the stairs, closing her eyes as she felt like if her whole body had cracked open.

"Urgh... Spike..." called out Applejack, weakly. The small dragon crouched over her.

"You should've been more careful, Applejack. Rest up there a little." The earth pony fell unconscious soon. Spike looked at the door in front of them. "Twilight..."

Albert blinked. Two earth pony stallions trotted in front of him and Lyra. The first had a body colored in different shades of amber, except for his crystal clear blue eyes. The second sported a grey coat and black mane with bright yellow eyes, wearing a top hat and a red bow tie. They both were carrying a box covered with a cloth and waved silently to Lyra before walking onwards. Lyra just laughed, watching Albert's expression.

"The brown one is called Time Turner, though for some reason he prefers to be called Whooves. Can't fathom why... The other one is his brother, called Raggedy. There are others around. A wacky family if I ever saw one; they're always around doing crazy things. Hey, let's go to my house!"

In the route to her house, Lyra spoke about ponies, music, herself, Bon Bon, Twilight and humans, all while giving him a tour around the whole of Ponyville, or so it looked like to him. Everywhere they walked, looks were turned towards him, and he was no longer comfortable. Not to mention a meeting with the Cutie Mark Crusaders Human Chroniclers. That was something he hoped not to repeat.

"Lyra, just where are we going?"

The unicorn smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry, I just go so excited! Look, it's over there."

After another ten minutes of walking around, they made it. Bon Bon was on the outside and greeted them. "Hello, Lyra, Albert. Nice to see you around here for a change." She directed a meaningful look to her friend who just chuckled nervously.

"I was showing Albert around Ponyville. Probably got a little excited, he he... We'll go inside."

He followed Lyra into the house, as she showed him every room. Once upstairs, he looked through the window in Bon Bon's room, looking at the sight of Ponyville from above. It still seemed too unreal for him.

"Do you know how to play the lyre?"

"No, not really. Is an uncommon instrument..."

The unicorn pouted, but immediately smiled broadly. "Then let me show you!"

"What do you think about this, darling?" asked Rarity, levitating her drawings for Albert to see. After a couple of seconds she blinked, confused. "Albert? Lyra? Where did these two go?"

She sighed, adjusting her glasses and looking back over the designs she had sketched, a smile crowning her lips. "Doesn't matter. I know he'll love this. I better put hooves to work, then."

She looked at her table, full of designs and requests her clients had given her, and let out another sigh. "Well, this is nothing I cannot manage stretching my schedules a little. I want to work with Albert's designs so much..."

She marked the shapes on the fabric and afterwards set off to cut the pieces, her face contorted in concentration.

After she had them cut, she lifted them with her magic, contemplating them against the diminishing light of the afternoon. The patterns that the pieces reflected on her mind brought to her memory designs she had made for stallions -very few compared to the ones that mares requested of her-. It made her think of the designs she had made for Spike, but most of all it brought to her mind the memories of certain designs she had come up with for a certain prince when he was all she had in fantasies; she dreamed of having him wear her productions, complimenting her on such splendid work. She lowered the pieces of fabric to the table and looked to the windows, seeing the approach of dusk and allowing herself to get lost in her thoughts.

-

About half an hour after she had passed out, Applejack recovered consciousness slowly. She opened her eyes and blinked several times. She recognized the stairs on the Library, and turning her head, which bore a thumping headache, recognized Spike, who was by her side.

"Sugarcube...?"

"You did wake up at last, Applejack. How're you feeling?"

"Pretty terrible, Spike. Everything's hurtin', and mah head feels like it's about to be cracked in two.." She closed her eyes?

"Can you walk?" She nodded slowly.

"Let's go downstairs, you'll seat down and I'll give you an analgesic."

"Sounds mighty fine, Sugarcube..."

They both slowly and surely made their way to the main room of the library, where Applejack sat down and Spike brought for her a glass of water and a capsule, which she drank in a gulp. She put her hooves down in the table and closed her eyes again. "Owww... Sometimes Ah forget who Twilight is..."

"What are we going to do then?"

"Just lemme get over this little headache and Ah'll get around to it..."

-

Albert slowly clapped, after Lyra finished her performance. He smiled and she did as well.

"That was pretty good. I don't think I had heard a lyre before, really. It's something new for me. But you do it wonderfully. How did you learn?"

Albert saw her smile faltering briefly, but it was almost unnoticeable, she was there beaming radiantly immediately. "I had a good teacher, and practiced hard like everypony, of course."

"You're right... " He looked around, but saw no clock or a device that could tell him the hour. "Hey, Lyra, what time is it? I think it's about time for me to get to the Boutique, or the Library. I don't know where I'm sleeping today. I really need to settle down my situation soon."

"I'd offer you a space here, but we don't have any spare rooms or something you could use to stay overnight. Bon and I rarely get visitors and we're not equiped for it."

"Don't worry, I understand. I'll get going."

"I'll go with you, of course!"

They went downstairs, said goodbye to Bon Bon -_I'll leave your dinner on the table, did you hear?- _and crossed the streets of Ponyville once again, chatting. They made it to the Library.

"Hey, Lyra, all the lights are off..."

"You're right... Let's knock anyway, there must be somepony inside."

Albert knocked the door loudly. They both waited some time, but no one came to open. They looked at each other and Albert tried knocking even louder. There was no response.

"Great, just great. Let's go to the Boutique..."

They made it to Rarity's business, only to find Sweetie Belle outside of it. She turned back, her eyes teary and her ears dropped.

"Rarity's not here... I've been knocking and even screamed, but nopony has come out..."

"Well, just great... What are we going to do? Walk all around Ponyville?"  
They marched off. Meanwhile, inside the Boutique, one of the mannequins tumbled over, causing a chain reaction that wound up hitting Rarity's sewing machine, that went off and destroyed the dress Rarity has left in it.

"Ah'm feelin' a mite better, Sugarcube... Let's, let's go and look fer the others... Let's begin with Rarity."

Rarity was beginning to put hooves to work again, when she heard a loud knocking in the door.  
"Oh, for the love of..."

"Rarity, open up! It's us, Applejack and Spike!"

Shocked by the sudden visits and curious by Applejack's urgent tone, Rarity opened the door and trotted over to them. She was even more surprised to find a panting Applejack entering her shop. It was very rare to see the Earth Pony in such a state outside of race, ever since she had learnt her lesson about overworking herself.

"Applejack! What's the matter,darling, why do you come in such a hurry?"

"Rarity, Twilight has locked herself in her room and won't come out!" said Spike, attracting the attention of the mare.

"Why would Twilight do such a thing?!"

"Ain't no time ta go explainin' now! Let's round up the group and then we'll talk!"

Rarity allowed Spike to climb to her back, to the small dragon's big pleasure and they trotted off of the building. Just some minutes later, Scootaloo would drop Sweetie Belle on the front of the shop and dash off with her scooter, Apple Bloom in tow.

Rarity, Applejack and Spike made it to Sugarcube Corner. Rarity knocked on the door of the already closed business. "Pinkie Pie, darling, can you come out?"

The door opened violently and Pinkie Pie ejected herself outside, falling in front of them with her four hooves on the floor. "I'm here! What's it, Rarity? Hello, Applejack, Spike!" waved the pink pony, grinning.

"Darling, Twilight has locked herself in her room and won't come out. We're looking for the girls to go and help her."

Pinkie's mouth opened wide. "Poor Twilight! Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Pinkie pulled out some glasses from nowhere and hopped in front of her friends.

"Dashie, come here!"

The aforementioned pegasus was found when she pulled her head out of her cloud home to answer to Pinkie's screams. She quickly joined them after Rarity filled her in and they all set course to Fluttershy's cottage.

The group made it to the cottage just as the sun was falling. Applejack knocked on her door, and soon the shy pegasus opened.

"Oh, girls. How nice to see you all here. Um, it's something wrong...?"

"Yeah, let's discuss this inside, Sugarcube."

"Of course, come in," said Fluttershy, stepping aside, worried about what would it be. The whole group came into her house, Spike begrudgingly dismounting Rarity and they all moved to form a circle in the floor of Fluttershy's home. They soon informed her about what was happening. She took a hoof to her mouth, gasping.

"Oh, we should go over there and talk to her."

"Hay yeah we should! Twilight's room has a window, right? I'll just buck it off!" Dash stood on her hind legs, punching the air.

"Don't even try it, Rainbow. Ah tried to open her door and spent half hour passed out on her stairs."

Rainbow lowered herself to the floor, with an angry expression on her face, but said nothing.

"We ought to talk to her, but that must be tomorrow. Poor Twilight must be tired, angry, sad and totally lost in her mind right now. We should give her some time and approach her once she's more eager to talk to us."

"Ah reckon yeh're right, Rarity. But there's also another side in this. Ah think we've got to find Lyra and speak our mind to that pony. We need to get her on line, or at least make her acknowledge her mistake and think what's she goin' to do?"

"You're right, Applejack. But we shouldn't all go. We'd scare her by ganging up on her and we don't pretend that. I think only some of us should go and meet her. And I think it should be Pinkie Pie, Spike and I who should go and talk to her."

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, snorting at Rarity. "And why should you be the ones to go there, Miss Fancy Talk?"

"Precisely because of that, Rainbow Dash. Well meaning ponies as you both are, Applejack and you can be pretty rough at times, and that would not sit well with Lyra. It wouldn't do to make Fluttershy go and come back in the deep night. So Pinkie Pie here, who has an astonishing ability to empathize with ponies, Spike, who's Twilight companion and myself who understand better these issues than you, no offense meant, would be the better choices."

"Ok, Ah'll go with your idea, Rarity. Let's just hope that it works."

"...Fine, do whatever."

"Excellent, darlings. Now I think we should get going. We will meet tomorrow, Fluttershy dear."

"Ok, Rarity, I hope your talk with Lyra goes well."

Rarity, Spike, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash headed to Ponyville after leaving the cottage, while Applejack came back to the farm. Once the group made it to the town, Dash returned to her house.

"Very well, Pinkie Pie, Spike, let us go then."

Lyra opened her house's door, followed by Albert and Sweetie Belle.

"Bon, I brought some friends to stay over!"


	15. Heartstrings

The room was dark and lonely. Twilight laid on the bed looking blankly into space. The tears had dried long ago, as had everything else. She hoped that Applejack was recuperated by now. She turned around, facing the other side of her room. Perhaps soon would be time to get out and write a letter, or do something that didn't involve just lying around. Perhaps.

The knock on the door was soft but constant, and her voice came through.

"Twilight?"

Pinkie Pie and Rarity crossed the park, while Spike slept on Rarity's back, the baby dragon could not endure the day any longer.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you any sooner, Rarity... Perhaps I should've told Applejack as well..." Pinkie Pie looked to her friend with seriousness, her eyebrows fallen and her hair slightly flat.

"That is fine, dear," answered Rarity, dismissing Pinkie's worries, after some moments of quietness. "Nothing really serious must have happened, or we would've heard something of the emergency brigade by now. Besides, I'm glad you told me, so I don't enter the Boutique unprepared... Now let' s go on our way darling, we have to fix this as soon as possible."

"Okie dokie lokie...," said the pink pony, still not very cheerful. "I hope Twilight gets over this soon..."

The two mares crossed the park, illuminated by some street lamps, in which some ponies enjoyed the night, by themselves or in couples. They continued their path until reaching the two story house. It had several lights on and animated chatting could be heard from the inside. Rarity and Pinkie looked at each other. Rarity knocked in the door, which soon was opened by Bon Bon.

"Oh, hello. Are you looking for Albert and Sweetie Belle? They're here." Rarity gasped.

"Sweetie! How could I have forgotten... Thank you, darling, we'll pick them up. But we came here looking for Lyra. I assume she's here as well..."

"Of course. Come on in, please."

The whole group was reunited in the kitchen eating some cookies. Sweetie ran to her sister's side.

"Rarity!" The small filly ran up to her. "Where were you? I didn't know what to do!"

"Sorry, Sweetie, I was driven away by other issues. We'll go home soon, just let me take care of something, okay?"

"Ok, Rarity!"

Rarity shook Spike until the small dragon woke up, and sent him off upstairs with her sister. Then she turned around, to where Lyra and Albert were.

"Lyra dear, Pinkie and I would like to have a word with you outside, if you were so kind."

The green mint unicorn looked at her counterpart confused, but agreed.

"I'll follow you."

Albert and Bon Bon saw the three mares go outside; the candy maker's furrows went up, but she remained silent.

"What is it, girls?" asked Lyra as the three sat outside; she looked from one to the other, unnerved by the looks they were giving her.

Rarity cleared her throat and spoke.

"Lyra, darling, let me ask you one question. What do you feel for Twilight?"

Lyra looked at her for a while, and then turned around, looking at Pinkie, who had somehow gotten right by her side and was piercing her with her crystal clear blue eyes. She turned back to look at Rarity, whom she felt was more bearable.

"I like Twilight. Why else would I be going out with her if not?"

"Do you? Because from recent evidence, that's not what it seems like, dear."

Lyra frowned. "Why not? I've been with her constantly lately, and you all know that."  
She turned in shock, feeling a hoof jabbing her in the face. The angry face of Pinkie Pie looked at her.

"Nope! You have been hanging out with that human since he arrived here! Twilight has wanted to talk to you several times and you haven't even thrown a tiny, mini-look her side, Lyra! She's now in her room, locked and hasn't allowed anypony to come in! "

Lyra was about to open her mouth, but she fell silent, looking at Pinkie. She turned her gaze back at Rarity, still without speaking.

"Poor Twilight has been waiting for you, dear. I don't know if she'll receive you now; we're planning to talk to her in the morning. But I want to hear it from you: Why did you do that to her?"

Lyra just sat there in silence, contemplating. Her golden eyes shone while her face reflected a thoughtful state.

"I... I just..." began Lyra, but fell quiet again. After some moments, Rarity continued.

"Just what, Lyra? What is it you're going to do?"

Lyra took a deep breath. "I'm going to talk to Twilight, ok? Just give me this chance."

Rarity and Pinkie looked at her with the same expression, finally lightening it, showing small smiles.

"Do so then, darling. Just bear in mind what are the important things, will you?"

Before she could answer, she was caught along with Rarity in a full fledged PInkie Pie embrace. The pink mare bawled strongly.

"Pinkie, darling, you can let us go now. Lyra needs to go."

They separated and looked at each other. Lyra nodded and trotted away in the direction of the Library.

At the shop's door, Albert and Bon Bon were watching everything and saw Lyra trotting off. Rarity and Pinkie approached them.

-

Lyra arrived to the Library, and pushed the door open. The bellring resounded all around the empty main floor, covered in darkness. She entered and navigated her way through tables and chairs, finally reaching the stairs and making her way upstairs. She found the room in question and extended her hoof to knock at it, before sensing an extremely powerful magical field emanating from it.

She backed her hoof away, looking at the door, and finally got around to knock lightly.

"Twilight?"

There came no response from the other side. Lyra sat on her haunches.

"Twilight, it's me, Lyra. Can you answer?"

Twilight's low, hoarse voice came out of the door. "What's there to answer, Lyra? You obviously prefer the human over me. Though I don't know why then did you give me that false lead on..."

Sighing, Lyra sat down in a step, resting her hind legs in the next and her forelegs in her lap. It was a rather painful position for a normal pony, but Lyra found herself able to sit thus for certain time periods. She fiddled with her hooves.

"I cut my ties with my family, you know, Twilight?"

No response came from the room; not that she expected any. She chuckled softly.

"The Crusaders would probably be astonished to hear it but I was a blank flank for quite longer that I know they'll be, well into my teenage years.

I was born into an earth pony family of long tradition, in Fillydelphia. As the only unicorn born in the family for generations, they didn't quite know what to do with me, and I didn't know either. I went to a normal school and learned the basics of magic, but nothing else. My parents were busy all the time running their business, one I didn't have any interest on, and so my days went on and on with me not quite knowing what to do."

Lyra stopped to breath. She could hear Owlowliscious flapping downstairs, going out of the window to hunt.

"My name then was simply Heartstrings, for I was the one tugging at theirs or something. Such feeling must have vanished quite quickly, among the glow of shiny jewels. Anyway, such a day came in which I couldn't take it anymore. I learned there was a festival coming to the city. I went away from home, looking for it. My parents followed me and I broke apart with them. With nowhere to go, I mingled with some bands that played there, as well a theatre company coming from Canterlot. It was the leader of this company who lent me a lyre, which I played for the first time, and I liked it.

They graciously offered me to go with them to Canterlot. They gave me some lessons, after which I tried for a small performance with them making up my small audience. I played well, receiving their ovations, and I cried upon receiving them and finding out that my cutie mark had appeared at long last. I chose to add another name to mine, becoming Lyra, which is the one I've used since then.

The leader of the company, his name is Stage Lights, also told me many stories. Among them was that of a fantastical race rumored to have stepped on Equestria long time ago, of which there were few records available. I grew enchanted with those stories and ever since then had wanted to see a human. It was something that just seemed so... special. I ran away from home looking for something that broke apart my boring life. And I dreamed to meet a human for so long, it consumed me when it happened. I should have controlled myself. I'm sorry, Twilight."

She stood up, approaching the door and standing side by side to it.

"Can you come out, at least?"

For a moments, there was nothing. Then Lyra heard the sound of hoofsteps coming and saw a lavender glow covering the room, followed by the door opening. Twilight stood on the other side, black bags below her eyes, her mane unkempt, looking straight at Lyra's eyes; the musician returned the gaze.

"Lyra, if you're still in, I'm still in."


	16. Mayhem at Ponyville meeting the Hooves

A month had passed since Twilight and Lyra cleared up their misunderstanding.

Autumn was coming to an end, bringing the chilling winds of winter along. The Running of the Leaves had taken place as usual, with Applejack beating Rainbow Dash by a nose. The athletic pegasus conserved a bad mood for a couple of hours, until Applejack brought a mug out of a certain cider reserve of the Apple family. Twilight Sparkle did not participate that year, as she was immersed in the study of Albert Jones, who had even gone to Ponyville's Elementary as a speaker; he taught her many things about his world, to the point that Twilight's notes were filling one of the Library's shelves.

At the school, all the fillies and colts, even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, took great heed to his word. Lyra was still around, but she took care to not get too deep into her enthusiasm, though she did enjoy musical sessions with him, with a cheap guitar they had gotten their hooves/hands on. She also had attended a couple of successful presentations around Equestria.

Soon everypony in Ponyville was accustomed to the new, bipedal creature that had taken up residence in a makeshift bed at Fluttershy's cottage, helping the kind pegasus with her animal friends. It was no fluke that he was living with her, as with the passing of the days, Albert and the ponies found that a regular pony diet was insufficient for him, causing him to fall sick.

After some deliberation from the ponies, Fluttershy came up front and offered to give him fish to eat, which he accepted eagerly. That brought him up to his feet again.

Since coming to live at the cottage, there had been a couple minor incidents regarding animals that ended up with parts of her home busted, but Fluttershy had been quick to ascribe them to their little familiarity with the new resident, calling out for Big Mac's help with it.

Besides helping out Fluttershy, Albert served as a delivery boy for the Candies and Pastries Shop. Bon Bon and Pinkie were now employing their spare time to develop new recipes and sell them as a joint business, which was received favorably as they put forth the best of each one's confectionaries, creating new and tasteful delicacies.

Despite some other few minor incidents around Ponyville, it all seemed quite good and clear (Rarity had almost had a stroke about the destruction of a dress made up of a quite expensive fabric; Opalescence was almost the victim of a cold bath until Rarity determined her innocence). Until it happened.

Straight Lace, the school's janitor, was cleaning out the schoolhouse in a warm Saturday. He was sweeping the floor, when he heard a cracking sound. He put the broom away and looked around, incapable of finding the source of the noise, but then he heard it even louder. He noticed the walls beginning to crumble and then turned around and ran away, just in time to avoid the whole structure falling on top of him.

The school was reduced to a mess of wood, bricks and mortar, with the school bell ringing its last call, as it was twisted and dented by the fall.

The townsponies were puzzled by the incident, now connecting the dots about the string of small accidents that were occurring around town, but no consensus could be reached. The school council reunited to discuss the proper procedures to take. They turned to the Apple family, who were very happy to lend their barn as a makeshift classroom, provided nopony minded it. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon did, but Tiara was overruled by her father once again, and so it was decided that classes would be held in Sweet Apple Acres until the school was rebuilt.

That same night, Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Albert were reunited at the Library. Bon Bon was also there, at Pinkie's behalf. Lyra was away at a presentation at Las Pegasus and wouldn't be back until two days later.

They all sat around two tables, with Albert at the center of the group, Twilight at his right.

"This is Mare do Well all over again...," said Twilight, her furrow completely up.

Bon Bon looked over to her. "Pinkie scared me. I thought she was having a seizure..."

"Yeah, that was a biggie! I've only had one as boomy as that!" Pinkie jumped up on mere reflex, all around looking at her going up and back down. "I'm glad nopony got hurt."

"Yeah, we've been quite lucky 'til now, but what if we run out of luck? When somepony gets hurt, it's not gonna be so easy." said Applejack, frowning. All sitting around the table nodded.

"I know that," answered Twilight, levitating a piece of parchment she had in front of her. "That's why Princess Celestia gave me this spell."

All the eyes on the table fell upon her.

"What's it, Twi?" asked Rainbow Dash, looking over Twilight's shoulder.

"This is spell designed to measure the level of Chaos present in places and living beings. We've experienced a series of strange phenomena here in Ponyville, but we shrugged them off. However, it's become quite clear that we can't do so anymore.

The Princess has confided in me her worry that Discord's release has sparked up the levels of Chaos."

Several pages from newspapers were levitated over to the table and shown to its occupants. "Small incidents of this nature have been reported all over, but nothing like the school falling has happened in any other place."

Every word flew in the air, coming inside of all that were listening to them. Next, Twilight levitated a book that lay on a nearby shelf, putting it on top of the table. It was a visibly old book in Middle Equinic, a language no one around knew but she understood easily.

"And that brings us to you." continued Twilight, pointing a hoof straight to Albert's chest, making the human open his eyes wide in surprise, all the others just following Twilight's movements.

"Why me? I have nothing to do with this world!" He lifted his hands defensively.

"That is precisely why, Albert," said the unicorn while opening the book, coming to a page which contained an illustration of three members of his race. She lifted the book and showed it to him. He regarded the drawings and his jaw fell open. They were Englishmen from the Middle Ages.

"What... what is this? There've been humans here before?"

Twilight nodded. "And we believe them, and you, have been brought here by transdimensional portals opened by Chaos."

He looked at her, struggling to understand her words. She continued.

"I'm going to tell the story, but I'd like to ask of you not to go and get this outside. This is a book compiled by Princess Celestia a few centuries ago, out of much older notes that were decaying. This book belongs to her personal Library. There is an official version in normal Libraries, not even the Canterlot Royal Library has this volume."

She put her hoof down rather hard in the table. "Now, I know what some of you might be thinking. And no, the Princess doesn't do this regularly. But she, and Luna, feel that this particular bit of pony history is best forgotten. They strive to lead ponykind along the better path. And so, I want to be assured that you won't comment on this outside of here."

Her gaze swept all that surrounded her, but it was especially dedicated to Bon Bon and Albert, everyone else already knowing its contents. They nodded, and so Twilight proceeded to once again, tell the history behind Equestria's founding.

Upon finishing, Bon Bon took a hoof to her mouth, lost in abject horror after hearing the tales of how the ponies of ancient times almost destroyed each other completely. Tears streaming freely down her cheeks, Pinkie Pie and Applejack doing her best to comfort her. The trio of earth ponies retreated to Twilight's kitchen, while Albert just reflects on the implications of the story in relation to him.

"So here I'm a by-product of Chaos, is what you want to say?"

"Well, it IS what gave you entry to Equestria. But we don't know if you have it inside of you. In the ancient times, they both were too busy bringing order to the recently formed Equestria to pay heed to that."

He frowned, remembering the story. "You said that was two thousand years ago, right?"

"We've just crossed two thousand and one, last Summer Sun Celebration, actually."

"But these humans couldn't have existed more than four hundred, five hundred years tops in the past of my world!"

"Really?" She looked at the drawings in the book again, taking every detail of them in. She frowned deeper, biting her lip.

"What is it, Twilight?" screamed both Albert and Rainbow Dash after a minute, unable to take her silence anymore. She broke apart from her book.

"This complicates things. Really."

He just looked at her, goading her to go on. She acquiesced.

"Well, dimensional rifting is simply impossible for any level of magic known to anypony, including the Princesses. Being an effect of Chaos, I guess it'd be expected for it to be randomized. There's two possibilities. First: the passage of time between Equestria and your world has dramatically different running rates. Second: The time jump simply hasn't got a tiny bit of synchrony behind it. It sends you at a completely random point in time despite your beginning point."

The remaining ponies, dragons and humans in the table looked at Twilight dumbstruck. Rainbow opened her mouth.

"And what the hay is that supposed to mean, Twilight?"

She looked around the table before answering. "It means that even if we're able to send you back to your world, the possibilities of you going back at the same time period from which you parted are infinitely slim."

The words hit him like a brick. There was just silence around him for a long time. Rarity, the one nearest to him, extended a hoof, talking quietly.

"Darling..."

He shook her head, alarming the white unicorn, who gasped and took back the hoof.

"It figures." he said simply, in a dry tone. He looked back at Twilight. Rainbow Dash snickered.

"You had us worried a bit there, I thought your mind had gone flying even faster than me!"

"Are you fine, Albert?" asked Twilight, showing a lot of concern in her voice. He shrugged.

"I'm not fine, but I'll deal with it later. There are things to do, right?"

They all looked at him, before Twilight shook her head. "Right. I think it's better to get the measurement behind us as soon as possible. So, let's do it?"

He nodded quietly. He followed Twilight to the other side of the Library, while the others remained behind. She brought a parchment, quill and ink next to her and then looked up, pointing her horn at him. He was soon enveloped by her purple glow. Both closed their eyes, Twilight focusing on her task. After about a minute, she let go of him and pointed to the writing supplies, which copied down a number in the parchment by themselves. She trotted over to the parchment and checked what had appeared on it.

"Your level of chaos goes up to seventy percent..." she announced in a barely audible whisper, which didn't make it to the other side of the room.

"And what does it mean?"

"Well, a hundred percent is Discord himself. You would be the lowest point in the top tier..."

She looked at him, a completely serious expression on her face.

"We've got to contact Princess Celestia."

The ovation was deafening. The public was very different from the stuck-up Canterlotian ponies, who thought the ones deserving of applause were themselves. It was a warm and friendly audience, despite the fact it wasn't the most recommendable of places. Las Pegasus was the most out there city in the whole of Equestria, where business in other cities and towns were relegated to certain areas, here they were splayed around a big part of the city. Not to say that there weren't many good places to be in, like the one she was in right now. Stage Lights always got the best places for her to play in, there was no doubt about that.

The lights finally shut down and she retreated backstage. She talked to the manager and got her share of the income, picked up her things and left the theater. That was her first presentation of the day. She would have another in the afternoon and the last one on Sunday noon and then she'd be free. She couldn't wait to go around the shops in Las Pegasus and select souvenirs for her friends; she wanted so much to see their beaming faces when she showed her gifts. Distracted as she was, a hoof touching her shoulder had to do a mildly painful poke to win her attention. She turned back, angry.

"Ouch! But wh..." Her expression changed instantly to one of surprise when she caught sight of the three ponies before her. A grey pegasus with unfocused golden eyes, not unlike Lyra's own, a young, soft lavender unicorn and an even younger purple unicorn filly. She then beamed widely, catching the three ponies in a strong embrace.

"Derpy, Sparkler, Dinky! What are you all doing here?!"

Derpy barely spoke, her voice muffled. "Lyra, you're choking us..."

The mint green unicorn broke apart from them, grinning sheepishly. "He he, sorry, girls... But anyway, my question stands!"

"Oh, you see, Lyra..." began Derpy.

"...we're in Las Pegasus..." continued the older unicorn.

"...in a mini-vacation!" finished the filly, grinning as wide as Lyra.

The musician tilted her head, looking confused at them. "Mini vacation?"

Derpy grinned, pulling out of her saddlebags a carnet, showing it to Lyra.

"Yes! You see, employees of the Equestrian Mail Service get discounts when travelling by train, you know? And I can bring my muffins with me! So we often hit the road and see the wonders that are there in the whole country. We hate being stuck all the time in Ponyville. Not that there's anything wrong with my beloved village, but there's so much out there. For our big vacations this year we plan to go Vanhoover and enjoy both the forests and the sea there!"

Lyra smiled, looking at them. "Good for you! But what are you doing in here, anyway?"

Dinky jumped happily around. "We were watching you play, Lyra!"

The older unicorn blushed, smiling. "Did you like it?"

"We..."

"...loved..."

"...it!"

Lyra's eyes shone brightly, exactly like Derpy's. "I'm glad, girls! Are you going somewhere now?"

"Nope..."

"Not..."

"Really..."

"Then how about you come and have lunch with me? I know a pretty good place near here."

"Yes let's go!" shouted the three at once, gaining the sure attention of all surrounding them, but none of the four ponies minded. Lyra led the path to the restaurant. The four sat at one of the tables and ordered. Dinky looked excitedly out of the window, while Sparkler went to the bathroom. Lyra pushed herself over the table, almost lying over it, looking straight into Derpy's eyes.

"You're thinking of something, right, Derpy? This can't be as easy as you make it out to be..."

The mailmare backed from the musician, her eyes going nervously from one side to the other. "Lyra..."

"Come on, Derps, you know I'm a friendly mare. I won't tell anypony." Lyra returned to her normal position at the other side of the table.

Derpy sighed. "Fine, Lyra, but not now... When are you free? "

Lyra smiled, reaching out to her once again, a little more restrained this time, to talk to her friend.

Night fell all over Equestria. Derpy charged Sparkler with taking care of her younger sister and left the hotel, going downstairs to the lobby and exiting the building. After some minutes of waiting, Lyra appeared down the street, stopping by her side.

"Ok, Derps. Ready for a girls night out?!"

The pegasus smiled and nodded, following the unicorn down the busy streets of the Las Pegasus nightlife, neon and music flaring from everywhere around them.


	17. The human and the Princess of the Night

Twilight looked around the table after she had finally composed the letter and Spike had sent it away. They were all just sitting in silence.

The knock resounded through the library's thick wooden door. All the heads around the table turned back simultaneously to look over there. Then they noticed the silhouettes of ponies pushing against the windows. The knock was louder this time.

"Miss Sparkle, it's me, Mayor Mare. We need to talk."

The three earth ponies rejoined the table and all sitting around it looked at each other and then at Twilight. The rumour of ponies outside grew louder as time passed. Finally Twilight left her chair and headed to the door. Without opening it she answered.

"Very well, Mayor, we'll talk, but only you can enter here. The rest of the crowd will have to wait outside," said Twilight with a calm, but authoritative voice, fixing her eyes in the wooden door separating them from the outside. The mayor's voice reverberated among the loud talking of the ponies outside, of which barely a thing could be understood.

"As you wish, Miss Sparkle. I'll go inside alone. Please let me in," answered the Mayor, in which surely the politician thought was her best conciliatory tone, but Twilight couldn't help but roll her eyes at the obvious two layered discourse of the older mare. Nevertheless she opened the door to let the Mayor in.

The diplomatic earth pony trotted quickly inside, her hooves clashing with the wooden floor of the library. She looked to the table and upon catching sight of Albert, her expression changed briefly to a panicked one, which wasn't lost on anyone, despite her striving to regain composure almost immediately. She fiddled with her glasses for a while, avoiding eye contact with Twilight, who stood beside her, or anyone else, before finally lifting her gaze, directing it to the table, still avoiding the sight of the human sitting in there.

"The citizens are getting restless, you know? You can hear them outside." Her voice had grown quieter, while she turned her gaze to Twilight, her deep blue eyes looking into Twilight's with a tired expression.

"With regards to this gentlecolt here... well, the town has been quite happy to receive a new face, especially one that sparks the curiosity of pretty much everyone in town. He has been well received, hasn't he? And the incidents that happened up until this point were easily ignored by everypony. But with this incident of the school, well... Most have been asking for the young colt to be taken away."

The general atmosphere in the inside of the Library had turned as cold as the windy night outside. Applejack and Rainbow Dash rose from the table, their eyes shining with irritation. "Now you wait a second here!" called both mares in unison, approaching the pair.

Fluttershy looked worried in Albert's direction, Bon Bon doing the same, both in silence. Rarity shivered. Pinkie, Spike and Albert simply looked to where Twilight and the Mayor were standing.

"They don't have any tangible proof," said Twilight simply, matter-of-factly. The earth pony beside her glanced at her and at the two mares that had just arrived by their side.

"Miss Sparkle, this would be too much of a coincidence, don't you think?" She took off her glasses and wiped them distractedly. "Incidents like this don't occur just 'because'. Usually we have one or another reckless pegasus to thank for that." The brief look the Mayor gave to Dash made very clear her implication.

"Hey! Derpy and me have worked hard to repair that, and it hasn't happened but once ever since!" replied the angry, chromatic pegasus, almost ready to jump into the politician mare. The mayor retreated a couple of steps, but did not flinch or change expression.

"There's no problem in it, Miss Dash. It's been easily corrected and there are funds for the occasional eventuality such as that."

"Then what's the problem, Mayor? Y'all can't simply look fer a solution ta all this?" asked Applejack loudly.

"But Miss Applejack, think about it. We can't file this as an accident or unfortunate event. We can't pinpoint it to a fail in the structure of the school or a worn out element of the building. Mr. Lace is very thorough in his inspection of the school premises and always fixes what he can or reports what parts he needs help with. It stood properly. A building doesn't fall just 'because'. And the ponies have been joining dots with the recent incidents around the town and all has pointed to him."

The mayor still pointedly avoided meeting Albert's direct gaze, focusing on the ponies standing in front of her.

Several mouths opened to answer the Mayor's words, but then everybody was distracted. Letters began to appear in the walls of the tree, magically etched in there by unicorns from outside.

_Just give the human away._

_Why do we have to endure this anymore? _

_Out with the problem. Aren't you the ones who always solve everything?!_

_Are you going to wait until something irrecuperable happens?_

There was a hard knock in the door, and the voices outside grew louder, emanating such words and other similar ones.

Twilight bit her lip. The letter that had been just sent wasn't likely to receive an answer very soon. She addressed the Mayor again. "Even if you're right, that's not going to solve anything. What would you do?"

"What do you want me to do? We need to do something, to assure the town that we're combating this, Miss Sparkle. It might even be nothing in the end."

This time, the politician mare looked around the room meeting the gaze of all that were in the room, including - very briefly - the gaze of Albert, but she didn't show any sign of reacting to it.

"I'm sure you know that he hasn't been heard of in other towns or cities because the Ponyville folks were just too happy to keep a low profile about it. But what is going to happen now? Who'll say that it hasn't already leaked? I am not threatening anything here, but the truth is that ponies won't keep shut about this, and when he becomes nationwide news, what are you going to do?"

"This wasn't bound to end up happily, was it? Truth is, I expected it to do so, but if it's not going to be, well.."

Albert rose from his chair, walking towards the discussing mares. Bon Bon tried to stop him, but couldn't. The others couldn't move from their chairs, as if an incredible gravity weighed them down.

"It's better for everyone if this wraps over nicely, isn't it?"

They all turned to look at him. He arrived to Twilight's side and looked down to her.

"Don't you think it's best?" She lifted her gaze to him, looking into his eyes.

"As a matter of fact, I don't." She shook her head vigorously. He looked at her, dumbfounded.

"What..."

"Quiet, Albert. I need a minute here. Rarity, can you keep your grip on the door?"

"I'll try, Twilight, but what..."

"Nevermind that now, just give me the time."

Rarity covered the door of the Library with her magic, feeling the thumps that ponies were making against the door, which made her almost falter instantly, but she pressed on. Twilight closed her eyes and her horn began to radiate lavender light that grew shinier as time passed on. The Mayor looked at her. "Miss Twilight, what are you doing? Mis..."

She was cut short by the intense light that filled the room, covering all the ponies reunited there, Spike and Albert. She was forced to close her eyes and when the light subsumed and she could open them again, the Library was empty except for her. She heard the sound of the door opening and hurried hoofsteps rushing to her place.

"Mayor, what happened here!"

The nine touched floor in the middle of the Royal Hall in the Palace, illuminated by the moonlight coming through the windows, falling on the floors. Floors that were soon tainted by ponies, a dragon and a human throwing up on it. The mass of entangled bodies soon began to free themselves from each other.

"Urgh, the smell of acrid vomit and the feeling of it on my hooves. I need to clean myself as soon as possible!"

"Really?! That's your problem?! How about being teleported miles across Equestria? Twilight, what's this about?" yelled Rainbow at the top of her lungs, the acid taste in her throat irritating her even more.

"Quit yer yabblin' over there and let everypony get free."

Soon, with efforts, grunts, muffled curses and cries, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, Dash, Spike, Applejack, Bon Bon and Albert stood in their own legs. Rainbow Dash did a double take

"You brought us to the Royal Palace, Twilight? And we just puked on the floor?"

"Uh, Rainbow, Ah think 's a mite more complicated..."

When they all recovered, they found themselves in the middle of Night Court, with Princess Luna, her Night Guards, and a line of petitioners looking at the recently arrived group with bulging eyes. Luna finally recovered, she hurriedly ordered her guards to take the petitioners away; these were too stunned to think clearly and found themselves out of the gates with the promise of an upcoming audience. Luna approached the group.

"It is not that I am not pleased to see you all. But what is owed to this interruption into the Royal Palace, Twilight Sparkle?" Luna's eyes came to rest on Albert, who was just rising to his feet. "Is this the human my sister has talked about to me?" She looked at the unkown vision of the creature in front of her, regarding it with interest. Albert felt the scrutiny of her gaze and was about to call out to her when she was snapped out of it by Applejack.

"Princess, y'all should come over here..."

Luna broke out of her trance and followed Applejack's pointing. Twilight lay on the floor, unmoving, her eyes shut, her chest only barely moving. She trotted over to her, making the others open space among the tight circle they had created. She examined Twilight's body and lowered her horn, touching the tip of Twilight's. A crackle could be seen erupting from it. Luna lifted her head again.

"Guards, take Twilight Sparkle to the nearest available room and call one of the physicians of palace to attend her immediately!"

"Wait, Princess, is she fine?"

"Where are they carrying her?"

"Twilight!"

Luna soon lifted a hoof among the avalanche of cries and pleas from the ponies and others surrounding her.

"Just a moment, everypony," said Luna, calm but with deep seated authority flowing in her voice. They soon calmed and sat to listen to the night princess.

"Twilight Sparkle will be fine. She will need quite a good amount of rest, though. She exhausted absolutely every single ounce of her magic in transporting all of you here, a task simply beyond the capabilities of any normal unicorn, as you should know. She will need vitamins, and lots of repose, but in a couple of days she will be fine."

They still didn't seem very relaxed, but accepted her word.

"Once she has been checked by the physicians, I think we can pay her a visit. Still, you haven't told me the reason for your visit."

They all scrambled, trotting by her side, while one of the guards behind them scrubbed the floor with his nose upturned. They looked at each other and they all stepped back. Once again their gazes crossed. Applejack sighed.

"Alright, everypony. Ah'll do it."

Luna gazed intently upon her, while the farm mare walked near her and began relating the tale. Upon finishing, Luna nodded in understanding.

"I see the grave dilemma we have on our hooves... This shall be better discussed when Celestia is awoken and we're all together. For now, I'll suggest that all of you have a rest." She turned to look at Bon Bon. "I am sorry, but I do not think I recognize you. Could you introduce yourself?"

Bon Bon looked nervously at Luna. "My name's Bon Bon, Princess. I'm simply a pastry maker of Ponyville who got involved in this somehow."

Luna nodded again, pensively. "So, Bon Bon it is. I cannot help but feel that I've heard that name before somewhere, but I can't put a hoof to it... It'll come back to me for sure, for now follow me to your rooms."

She guided all them to a succession of bedrooms in one of the corridors, at the end of which was resting Twilight, monitored by one of the doctors of palace. They all entered and sat around her bed, observing how she slept peacefully. After some time, they all decided to return to their respective rooms, but just when Albert was about to reach the handle of his door, he heard Luna's voice behind him.

"Would you mind if we walked around and talked a little?"

"I guess not, Princess. Let's go."

She guided him through the darkened corridors of the palace leading to the throne room and outside, where the night winds blew. Luna's mane flowed freely, matching the night sky's color with the shine of her stars. They descended the stairs, making it to the bottom. Albert contemplated the streets of Canterlot, so busy and different compared to the ones in Ponyville. It reminded him of his own city, memories he had revisited, but not fully delved into while he was in the small town.

"How do you feel?" Luna's voice, though clear, made it to him as if coming from the deepest of dreams. He looked at her, but she had her sight fixated in front of her, allegedly contemplating the same things he had seen until she spoke to him. He once again looked to the front.

"This is far away for me. I ended up in a strange land full of creatures I can't even grasp my mind around just yet. I've left people behind. People that come to my mind every day and night. And now... I have something inside me which is destroying all of this? What am I supposed to think? This would have been unfathomable just eight weeks ago..."

"Do you feel trapped inside yourself?" asked Luna, looking directly at him.

He lifted a hand slowly to his face. He touched his cheek, feeling the skin. He discovered, or rather, finally appreciated its tact. He found that he had never gotten to do so in his lifetime on earth, taking everything for granted. He lifted his hand and passed it through his hair, as he had done countless times before, but this time he took note of the feeling his unruly black hair provided. Finally his eyes met Luna's deep blue ones, that were looking at him with austerity.

"I guess I do. Everything is so surreal. Something that I could have never even suspected presents itself before me with such a pretense of normalcy. That which passes for normalcy around here, anyway."

For the first time since his early days in Equestria, Albert fully meditated on what his coming to the land actually meant; what it entailed. After spending some more time outside, he parted with the Princess of the Night, leaving for his bedroom. But in the other rooms, only Rainbow Dash slept soundly the whole night; all the others were tossing around or thinking of different things, and for Albert it was no different. He always had a different memory playing just before falling in the clutches of sleep, and that night, the sound of Noelle's voice cradling him into dreams...

When he opened his eyes it was still dark outside. There were no lights available and the room grew gloomy and enormous around him. He lifted the covers after infructuous attempts to go back to sleep and remembered he hadn't brought the slippers Rarity had designed for him. Nothing had been carried with them, so he would have to make do with the clothes he was wearing for the time being. He went to the door and opened it slowly, looking at both sides of an empty and cold corridor. He walked slowly until finally reaching the throne room, entering slowly. The only ponies in the room were Luna, sitting in her regal chair and two guard ponies, standing below her in attending position. She turned to look at him.

"Dawn is almost upon us. I take it you haven't slept well?"

"Not really, Princess..."

Luna left her chair, and walked straight to him. While normal ponies went around his waist, Luna almost saw eye to eye with him, with Celestia towering over him. The blue alicorn raised herself on her hind hooves and touched his forehead gently with the tip of her horn, which shone.

The stars and constellations flashed in front of his eyes. Countless bright spheres shone as he traversed outer space, each one sending a message straight to him. There were white stars, red stars, yellow stars. But among all of these, a certain blue star called his attention, almost winking to him. He pulled nearer and nearer to it until he was engulfed in its blinding gleam, finally breaking out of the illusion. He took in the normal sight of the palace, breathless.

"That's... that is..." Albert was speechless, looking directly at Luna, who only offered him a warm smile.

"The night sky is my canvas. And what is a canvas but a mirror in which the artist looks directly to the observer?"

"And you never show this to anypony?"

"Few ponies are available at this time. And the ones who are are as embedded in their own businesses as they are during day time. It matters not. I am already at peace with myself."

She directed her gaze up, as if she could penetrate the ceiling with her sight. He elected to retreat and go back to bed, finally falling asleep, a blue shine welcoming him into dreams.


	18. The Journal

_**Private Journal of Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Regent of the Sun**_

_**First year, second month, day twenty three.**_

_After several weeks of reunions with selected members of all three races, accords are beginning to be set up in relation to the distribution of lands for each one of them. Equestria is still a country with so much to be discovered, though, and the ponies need so much guidance in order to preserve what has been achieved, not allowing it to fall to naught. We believe exploration by our Sister and us shall be needed to have a better understanding of the possibility of expansion across the lands. This shall have to wait, however, as it is not possible to take on such an enterprise in this moment._

_**Private Journal of Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Regent of the Sun**_

_**First year, fourth month, day one**_

_Star Swirl and Clover are two outstanding unicorns indeed. In a short amount of time they have come up with plans for mid and long term development for the country. They will probably have to suffer many adjustments as things go on, being based on very few hard facts as they are, but they are incredibly well though. We enjoy working alongside this pair. They tell us stories about this strange race that was found after Discord was vanquished. There are so many things to do, though, that we can't spare much time to satiate my curiosity. The information they provide us is interesting, though._

_**Private Journal of Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Regent of the Sun**_

_**Third year, second month, day fourth**_

_It has taken quite a lot of effort on everypony's part, but we have achieved a certain level of stability. Lands and living spaces are settled up, crops have been established, rendering the constant travels of pegasi to other lands to collect food less urgent. The news and reports they bring from other parts are quite useful, though. Some ponies have already began registering all this. Perhaps soon shall be the time that Luna and us take on the exploration journey._

_**Private Journal of Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Regent of the Sun**_

_**Third year, fourth month, day one**_

_Our Sister and we are ready to take flight, leaving Star Swirl in charge of the administration as we are absent. He will be a good advisor to the leaders of the races. We will have to talk to him after our return, though, about those records he is writing down. There are things that might be better for ponykind not to remember. _

_**Private Journal of Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Regent of the Sun**_

_**Third year, fourth month, day ten**_

_Roughly in the west direction from the ponies current habitat, at several thousands of miles, there is a lush forest, full of life and many exotic vegetal and animal species. We have determined this is an ideal spot to set up a new living space for ponykind. We shall return now._

_**Private Journal of Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Regent of the Sun**_

_**Third year, fourth month, day twenty-two**_

_Our Sister and we are back among the ponies. We have expressed our opinion, and a scout team has been approved to be sent, which will travel along Luna, while we stay here and conduct things. _

_**Private Journal of Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Regent of the Sun**_

_**Third year, fourth month, day twenty four**_

_The debate with Star Swirl has been heated. We know this can be difficult to accept. However it is imperative to lead pony kind towards a rightful path, and help them improve constantly. This does not mean that we have to forget it. We shall have it recorded and keep it near to us to make sure we never lose track of our path and our task. _

_**Private Journal of Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Regent of the Sun**_

_**Third year, seventh month, day twenty-three**_

_We have secured the document containing the pertaining history in my private library, while ensuring the propagation of the story that shall be remembered. We all must get our hooves dirty sometimes._

_**Private Journal of Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Regent of the Sun**_

_**Year seven hundred, second month, day fifteen**_

_Luna has been given to take long, faraway flights by night, returning only to sleep deep and long as well. Night Court is, we're afraid to say, quite unnecessary, so it is not a great problem, but we feel the need to talk to our Sister._

_**Private Journal of Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Regent of the Sun**_

_**Year eight hundred and twenty-first, tenth month, day seven**_

_We are not sure what to do anymore. We have tried everything, but our Sister does not come back from her isolation. She falls further and deeper._

_**Year one thousand, month six, day fourteen**_

_We do not understand. The sky has been dark for some days now. The Elements of Harmony are gone. We do not care. What was it that brought her to this? The very same sky plagued of stars terrorizes my vision every night, keeping me from delivering to slumber._

_**Year one thousand, month six, day twenty**_

_We shall go back to our duties, despite the fact that we cannot bring the light to the inside of our own heart. We shall keep going forth. Thousand years are a long time..._

_**Private Journal of Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Regent of the Sun and Moon**_

_**Year one thousand ninety seven, month two, day three**_

_I have been thinking about it, every single day. And it's obviousness has grown up on me, the very same obviousness with which one regards facts after one has learned them, when they have been there the entire time, but one has simply not taken a hold of them. I shall find a manner to prevent this from catching me by surprise once again._

_**Private Journal of Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Regent of the Sun and Moon**_

_**Year one thousand ninety-nine, month five, day ten**_

_I think I have the perfect spell for this. I will test it in that statue, the only thing I can think of that has the necessary qualities for my experiment. _

_**Day eleven**_

_The test was successful. This spell will allow the user to measure the amount of Chaos resident in any entity, living or not. This might prove to be quite useful in the future, though I of course hope it does not get to that._

_**Private Journal of Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Regent of the Sun and Moon**_

_**Year one thousand nine hundred eighty-seven, month four, day eighteen**_

_Today I met an amazing filly called Twilight Sparkle. She reminded me of Star Swirl, and his incredible feats. I see in her a spark, a shine of hope. I put her under my wing. My feelings tell me there will be great changes coming._

_**Private journal of Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Regent of the Sun**_

_**Year two thousand, month six, day nine**_

_My sister has, at long last, come back. She is scared, confused and sad, but she is back. I have confirmed her clean status, and everything will be fine. I'll make absolutely sure of it. The Elements of Harmony are also back, Twilight has surpassed herself, and finally has begun to break her shell. The cycle will begin again._

_**Private Journal of Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Regent of the Sun**_

_**Year two thousand and two, month ten, day fifteen**_

_This fabled race has come back, then. And so soon after Discord's reappearance. I cannot feel anything good coming from this. I will keep an observant eye on it._

_**Private Journal of Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Regent of the Sun**_

_**Year two thousand two, month eleven, day twenty**_

_Twilight. You have passed grand tests until now, tests that very few ponies would even consider. You and your friends have grown up considerably and earned your successes. But life is full of things that we have to overcome to become better, and they are bitter, painful and potentially destructing. But I know you, with the wonderful ponies and others that surround you, will be able to get over it. This does not mean that I don't regret this, but it is for the sake of our whole land, and his sake too._

_I am deeply sorry. _

_Celestia._


	19. Going around in circles 2

Twilight was still fast asleep as the morning died away, the sun reigning over the sky.

Albert had woken up just recently and decided to check up on her. When he entered her room, he found the rest of the group sitting around the bed, while one of the palace's physicians checked on Twilight, assessing her condition. After finishing, he turned back to them.

"Her condition is still stable; nothing out of the ordinary is reported." After receiving the news, a general sigh of relief was heard around the room. The only one who didn't participate in it was Spike, who sat at the height of Twilight's head. He didn't seem to take notice of anyone else in the room, even Rarity. The doctor went out of the room as Albert entered.

Pinkie Pie, Bon Bon and Applejack exited the room, waving or nodding to him as they passed by his side. He watched them go. The three earth ponies had grown closer to each other as time had passed on since he had first met them. Bon Bon and Pinkie were working hard for their business, and they often included Applejack in their operations, as a provider of resources.

Looking back into the room, he saw Rainbow Dash opening a window of the room to escape outside, her rainbow trail marking her path. In the room only remained Fluttershy, Rarity and Spike, looking over the sleeping unicorn, who only emitted shallow breaths.

He sat down next to Rarity, who smiled kindly and levitated to him a cup of coffee, which he received. He sipped the dark drink, finding it quite bitter. He put the cup away and looked at the unicorn lying in the bed.

_Twilight held Albert's right hand between both of her hooves, her eyes looking at it with deep concentration, her tongue sliding out of her mouth as she took in the details. He sat there patiently while she studied, making the occasional remark, while near them, floating in mid air, a quill took fast paced notes. She finally let go of his hand and looked at him._

"_What are you, Albert?"_

He recalled Twilight's question at the time. It would've seem such a silly question, back on Earth. He was a human. A bipedal mammal male, in scientific sounding words. Nothing ever caused him to think about it deeper than that.

Finding himself being asked point blank that question by a unicorn, a theoretically impossible creature in his own world, however, had made him ponder that just about everyday since then.

Rarity picked up on him. "Darling, would you mind for a cup of tea? It'd be quite better than this black smudge they gave us. "

He broke out of his trance and looked at her, shaking his head. He nodded, rising from his chair. "Sure, let's go."

They went out of the room, after Rarity invited both Fluttershy and Spike; they declined, electing to stay by Twilight's side. He followed her in silence, and was surprised when she led him towards the main doors of the castle. He stopped in his tracks.

"Um, Rarity... Are you sure we should be going outside like this?"

She stopped as well, and turned back, lifting her head to look at him, her mane swaying as her head moved.

"You are with me, dear. Everything's going to be just fine. We won't stray too far away from the Castle in any case. Are you coming?"

She opened the door with her blue aura, holding it for him. They descended the stairs leading to the street before the Castle and she led him for a couple of streets where everypony they met stared at him with their jaws wide open, forgetting all their usual ways. He was not sure yet to have taken the right decision but still followed the white unicorn until she stopped in front of a shop. The letters in the window read 'PONY JOE'S DONUTS' and the bell rang as Rarity opened the door into the pastry shop. They both went in and the smell of fresh coffee hit Albert's nostrils, so different from the castle's gurge. They were greeted by a friendly stallion behind the counter.

"Welcome to Pony Joe's!"

Fluttershy and Spike remained behind in the room as all the others left. She looked over to the small dragon who was caring for the unicorn lying in the bed. She stood up and walked over to him, crossing around the bed to sit by his side. She smiled softly despite him not looking at her.

"I'm sure Twilight will wake up soon, Spike. They said she was only exhausted."

He still didn't look at her, focusing on the movements of Twilight's chest as she breathed.

"That teleportation would have killed any normal unicorn, you know, Fluttershy? The magical energy needed for such a movement is not simply anything you can pull out from a hat." He sniffed, but did not cry, Fluttershy nuzzled him softly.

The yellow pony didn't find any words to say to him, and so she simply nuzzled him softly, embracing the small dragon, both looking over the lavender mare.

They stood like that for a long while, until they finally heard the door opening and turned to see Celestia entering the room. She recognized them and smiled softly.

"Hello, Spike, Fluttershy. It's nice to see you today. " She looked over to where Twilight lay still. "I've been told she will be fine, but will still take some time to wake up. May I sit next to you?"

"You don't have to ask that, Princess." replied Fluttershy, making space for Celestia to join them.

"Thanks for your visit, you brought many clients here; I even ran out of stock. Come back soon!"

"Very well, I admit that was not the best idea I have ever had, but you must acknowledge he makes pretty delicious pastries, doesn't he?"

"Yes," Albert simply answered, while biting on a strawberry muffin, masticating it endlessly as they made their way back to palace. The guards already knew Rarity well enough and had been instructed about Albert's presence, so they didn't have any problem moving at leisure throughout it.

"Let's just take a stroll through the gardens, darling."

The Royal Canterlot Garden was home to many vegetal species, trees and a great labyrinth in the middle of it, as well as a varied assortment of statues, one of which had been relocated to a secret place only a handful of ponies knew about, all of them royalty or royal guard. They came to a halt in the middle of some of these statues, contemplating them. He remembered Discord and his own imprisonment on stone, and his brain was struck with the impossible idea.

He looked in horror at the statues surrounding him. Many represented ponies; others represented different creatures. They were very clearly showing the signs of the passing of time, some much more than others. Those were decolored. Cracked. Spent. He himself had been a statue only a little more than a month ago. His mind flashed with the possibility that the ones surrounding him could very well have met the same fate. The one nearest to him was that of a pegasus who seemed ready to take off. He looked at it insistently, as if willing it to tell its story. The stone remained unmoving and silent.

"That's just a statue, dear. Nothing else." Rarity stopped next to him, looking up to the pegasus shaped stone construct. "The Princess herself explained it to us shortly after Discord was sealed again, when Twilight was hyperventilating with the possibility that there might be another dangerous creature trapped in here. Turns out all of these statues were ones the sisters acquired throughout the last thousand years to accompany and cover for the draconequus."

She broke apart from the stone pegasus, coercing him to follow with a hoof. "Come on, let us be on our way."

Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Bon Bon walked slowly out of the castle. The cream colored pony looked around everywhere, amazed by the capital city she had never known. Pinkie Pie grinned widely seeing her expression while Applejack just walked in silence by Pinkie's side. The pink pony went forward bouncing with her usual enthusiasm.

"Just you wait, Bonnie, I know you'll love Joe's cakes and cookies and muffins and, oh, just everything! I want to see him again so much, we could talk about all that and we could tell him and..."

Bon Bon approached Pinkie and put a hoof in her mouth, bringing the party pony to a halt. She smiled, and Pinkie stopped blabbering, at which point she removed the hoof.

"Gee, Pinkie, you're even more out of control than usual."

Pinkie's eyes locked into Bon Bon's, as the party pony stopped suddenly. She then smiled even wider, hugging the pastry maker.

"Of course, Bonnie, I want everypony to be happy! I'd like for everypony to be happy, and when Twilight wakes up it'll be better than ever!"

Bon Bon slipped out of Pinkie's grasp, shaking her head. "Ok, ok, I understand, Pinkie. Let's go wherever it is we're going, ok?"

Pinkie nodded energetically. "Yup!" She began to bounce again, looking to her other side.

"You've been so quiet, Jackie? What's up, my favorite cowpony?!"

The farm pony adjusted the brim of her hat. "'S nothin' Pinkie. Ya'll just know Ah don't like big cities that much. When we come to the Palace it isn't that big of a deal..."

This time Pinkie crashed into Applejack, locking her with her four hooves. "Come on, Jackie! Me and Bonnie and all the other girls are here with you, aren't we? We'll have fun together!" As she did with Bon Bon, Pinkie's eyes glared deep into Applejack's green ones, until the farm pony relented with a sigh, smiling afterwards.

"Ah guess you're right, Pinkie. Ah'm here with all my friends. It's just that seeing Twilight like that brought me down a little. But she'll wake up soon enough, right? Come on, girl, let's get out o' this mess you put us in!"

Pinkie released Applejack from her hold and the two ponies got back on their four legs, finally making their way to Joe's establishment. The three entered and looked at the absolutely empty place. The unicorn behind the bar greeted them amicably and then shrugged.

"Sorry, girls. I'm all out of everything. Rarity and her strange friend came by earlier and the shop was full of clients. It'll take at least twenty minutes before I'm able to get anything out. You're free to stay and chat though, or come back if you want, and I'll give you treats on the house."

Pinkie and Applejack smiled. "That's mighty fine of you Joe. Ah suppose we'll be back later. Thanks!"

"Of course, I don't want to lose your delicious pastries! Right, Bon Bon?!"

"Sure, Pinkie." The candy maker smiled as they ventured outside. They stood on the sidewalk in silence for some moments. Bon Bon looked at the other two.

"Have any other thing in mind?"

Pinkie lifted a hoof to her mouth and adopted an expression of deep concentration.

Rainbow Dash soared over Canterlot. She knew the Wonderbolts weren't around, but she still felt the need to whip out her wings. She raced through the city's space, not gathering enough speed for a Sonic Rainboom, but still feeling it as the wind hit back against her face and the resistance built up. She finally made a last turn in mid air and sped off, halting before crashing with the castle. She settled down in one of its towers, looking down to the huge city below, with barely visible little dots walking around the streets.

"What's going to happen? " asked Albert once again, as he and Rarity walked around the labyrinth's border. "We came here in a hurry, but we didn't solve anything back in Ponyville."

Rarity didn't stop, nor turn to look at him, simply walking on. "I'm sure the Princesses, and Twilight, once she wakes up, will conjure all this. We must simply have faith and be patient, darling." They turned into the other side of the labyrinth, ready to make the turn. He didn't need to ask just why they were walking in a seemingly pointless route. He did understand it already since Dash made it out of the window and so he just went along with her, given he was in much need of a clear head as well. He tried to avoid thinking about what had transpired to make him the one that had been selected to come through to a new land totally unrelated to him and make him the center of all that was transpiring in such land, but it wouldn't leave his head as he just followed the white unicorn around in almost total silence.

"Can we go back to the castle, Rarity?"

The white unicorn finally stopped in her tracks, but still didn't look at him. She didn't answer until about a minute had passed. "Well, I was sure you'd appreciate a little more fresh air, but I suppose we've walked around quite enough. I must be getting antsy. Let us go back, then." She resumed her walking, just in time to turn in the other corner, beginning the walk back to the palace proper. When they were at the stairs, they met with the three earth ponies.

"Well, shucks, if it isn't the shop raiders." Applejack smiled, as they got together. "We went to grab a bite from Joe and he was in the clouds with your visit. Took some time before we could get somethin'."

"Well, I apologize for that, darling. But you had fresh donuts, didn't you?"

"Oh, sure we did, Rarity! And they were delicious! The hot, strawberry filling filling my mouth! Uh, delicious! I'd like to go back and ask for more!"

"Pinkie, dear, I absolutely don't know how you're not a perpetual balloon."

"Well, duh, I've been a balloon before."

The conversation came to a halt when Rarity opened the doors, only for them to find Celestia herself waiting for them on the other side.

"Hello, my little ponies, and Albert, I trust you've been doing fine?"

The ponies rose up from an instinct fueled reverence. Rarity continued talking.

"Sure we did, Princess. Canterlot is such a nice place. I was showing Albert the gardens and the labyrinth, thankfully free of any nasty surprises, ha ha."

"That's good to hear, Rarity. Could I borrow Albert for a while, if you don't mind?"

They all looked at each other, and back to the Princess. Before anyone else said anything, Albert walked over to her.

"Yes, Princess, I'll go with you. See you later girls."

The rest of the group looked on as they both walked away from them. They all could feel a certain heavy atmosphere coming down on them. They elected to go and visit Twilight's room.


	20. Human

_The numerous group kept growing smaller, as more couples were called. The new college students looked attentively at the front of the classroom, with the usual chatting and whispers as background noise. Albert sat in the middle of the classroom, looking around at all the unknown faces he would have to get to know from there onwards. The list was barely by the E, so he was relaxing. _

"_Noelle Evans and Albert Jones, you two go together for the exercise," called the professor's voice over. He stood alert and looked around, seeing a girl with her arm stretched. She was small, but had a smiling face. Long, shiny black hair fell to her shoulders, framing a face as tanned as the rest of her body. She wore black, square-shaped glasses, a white hair pin, a white buttoned blouse and a long colorful skirt. He stood up and walked over to her._

"_Nice to meet you. I'm Albert." _

_She stood up, and her grey eyes joined her smile, as she extended a hand to him. "You're a proper guy, aren't you? I like that. So, let's go?"_

_He nodded, and they left the classroom, looking to solve the assignment the professor had left for them. _

"_You have a certain ring to your voice. You've been to choral classes, haven't you?" asked Albert as they went down a set of stairs._

"_Yes, my parents sent me to a musical school some years ago. I wasn't happy with the idea at first. But it turned out that I had a talented voice; I received quite a lot of praise in there. And I liked it, truth be told. So I decided to stay. With time, I grew up liking it, and that's how I decided to come here. How about you?" She turned her head to look at him._

"_Is pretty simple, really. I've always liked music. In my house there's often something on, and I grew accustomed to it. I hadn't really anything that I was interested in, so I decided to come here and test my hand at it. Silly, isn't it?"_

_She shook her head. "Not really. I hope you find yourself here."_

_He looked ahead of him and nodded lightly. "I hope so too."_

He followed Celestia's technicolor mane, flowing despite the absence of windy currents, through the corridors of the castle. He didn't pay attention to it, just concentrating in her while they walked silently. Finally, Celestia stopped in front of a couple of doors which her magic opened, revealing her bedroom. She went inside and Albert followed her. After she closed them again, he looked around. This was a circular room, with a tapestry on the middle, in front of a chimney. Next to it lay a window, and around the room, several bookcases and a couple of smaller doors.

And laying upon the regal tapestry was the Princess of the Night, fully awake despite it being the early evening. Her azure eyes gleamed when they locked gazes. She stood up, approaching him, her face devoid of any smile, but kind.

"Good evening, Albert," said her quietly, before stopping in front of him. Celestia stood by his other side.

"Good evening, Princess Luna. It's good to see you."

"'Tis good to see you as well." She then avoided his gaze, and with the gleam of her horn, summoned several cushions for him to sit in top off, while both sisters laid in their four legs.

After some seconds of silence, Celestia spoke, using the same downplayed tone which Luna had employed.

"I take it you have known about the history of Equestria by Twilight, haven't you?"

He nodded, looking into her eyes.

"That was about the many things she talked about while I accompanied her at the Library. Honestly, I don't think I could recall half of what she told me, but that I have no problem remembering."

Celestia considered his words, and then continued.

"At that time, the world was an extremely disordered place. The three races were just beginning to learn to get along with each other. Many had perished; whether because of the journey, fighting amongst themselves, or Discord's machinations. It was a truly tough job the one Luna and I had, making sure things ran as smooth as they could. Which wasn't much, but we did it slowly and constantly.

When we received word of these creatures known as humans, we desired to know more about them, but it was simply impossible for us to take time for it. We were lucky to have ponies that gave us their account of them."

Luna took over the speaking then.

"The weather back in that time was just like the weather at the Everfree Forest, unmanageable and unpredictable. It took quite some time before we and the pegasi managed to take a hold of it. The environment didn't seem to help very much, and so we didn't suspect about some incidents that costed several ponies lives. But now that we look back into it, the presence of disturbing Chaos makes itself overwhelmingly obvious. "

Albert shifted around, his legs cramped, as he attended to the sister's words. Celestia took the word once again.

"The humans eventually disappeared inexplicably or passed away. During their stay in this land, we conferenced with the unicorns who were studying them about their presence in here. We weighted the things as they had happened and decided that, in order to steer Equestrian society towards a brighter future, we should keep it under wraps, and strive to lead them towards a better structured society. It means that my sister and I bear these burdens for the sake of maintaining Equestria in a kinder state. Of course there is no avoiding conflict and distress among our ponies, both between themselves and with the different races, but the real big things have been managed. And some of them are of our own creation.."

Celestia fell silent then. She stood and turned around, facing the chimney. Its crepitating flames were reflected in her eyes. Luna spoke then. Her voice was kept in the same tone and didn't reflect anything, but Albert could perceive the darkening of her face.

"The endless strife between ponies at that age helped create that manifestation of endless Chaos that is Discord. We suspect it also brought the Windigos into existence. How else can we explain creatures whose only purpose is to punish quarrelers?"

The three fell silent; Celestia didn't break apart from the vision of the flames while Luna looked at Albert. He pondered their words, looking into the dancing fire. He finally stood up, stretching his legs.

"But I already knew most of this. You didn't bring me here to talk just about this, did you?"

Celestia finally turned to look at him. She let out a sigh and looked at her sister, who nodded. Celestia's gaze then came back to him.

"No, of course not." The royal pony sat straight, looking down to him as they spoke.

Her horn shone and a scroll came floating to her from a near bookshelf. She skimmed through it and put it down in the floor.

"The letter that Twilight sent says she performed a scanning spell on you. She found high levels of chaotic energy emanating from your interior.."

He simply nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"We would've like for Twilight and the others to be here and participate of everything, but we must simply dispatch this issue already."

Each of the sisters had a shadow running across their faces. The fire on the chimney danced and almost was put out by a strange wind, but it relented, illuminating the royal bedroom.

"Everything has a balance in the order of things. There are light and darkness: the Day and the Night. They both have essential roles in the land. Without the day, there isn't any warmth to help sustain life. Without the night, and the presence of the moon, we can't keep track of the different cycles necessary for many things. Those are just some of the benefits that are brought by each aspect. You may think that we hate Chaos, but that is not the case. Chaos is the balancing force that allows Harmony to exist. If any given system didn't have its fails, we wouldn't know it is working. It would be devoid of any meaning, and that's why this state of unrest exists. The problem is when Chaos begins to escalate and lose any equilibrium it may hold. That's when it becomes worrisome. That is what Discord brings to the land and why he must be contained.

And between such anomalies, your presence here is one of them. It lacks such coordination that you haven't even crossed through a proper string of time. We don't have the capability to send you back to your place of origin, and even if we didn't have, there's no telling at which point in the history of your world you might arrive at."

Celestia's words came to a halt. She seemed posed to continue, but her mouth wouldn't move any more. Luna lifted herself and approached her sister, standing by her side. Her voice was as kind as when she had first spoken with Albert.

"For this situation here, we have two options to follow, and we will present them to you now. The Elements of Harmony wouldn't help us out here, as your situation is different from that of the ultimate embodiment of Chaos. You don't have any control over it. You are simply a vessel and not in any way held responsible for anything."

She advanced a couple of steps towards him, her deep reaching blue eyes never leaving his.

"First, you can be converted into a pony. The essence shift would liberate your body from the chaotic energy inside it. Given that we don't have the necessary knowledge about your race, It would mean you'd have to give up any hope of ever coming back to your normal life. But you know there's not the slightest chance of that, anyway. That would be your safest route."

She had caught up with him. Luna adopted a sitting position, seeing eye to eye with him. He looked into her eyes and saw inside of her. The concern of a mare who had been once afflicted with the dark energy of chaos. Though she had simply been assaulted by a minuscule particle, that spark had been enough for her powerful nature to give birth to a unseemly night creature. Luna's eyes finally broke apart from his and she backed a couple of steps. From behind her, Celestia looked impassible at the scene, her expression unreadable.

Every moment that passed afterwards transcurred very slowly in Albert's mind. He looked at them, but suddenly their images had become very unrealistic; they had become caricatures that were looking at him with ridiculous expressions. He blinked once and all the images turned back to normal, with the two expectant princesses looking at him. He blinked again.

_The white coated and black maned pegasus with a guitar-shaped cutie mark flapped his wings to give himself another impulse. The small and colorful town of Ponvyille appearead finally below him with its recognizable landmarks. The saddlebags he was carrying were quite bothersome in flight, besides the guitar case that hung in his back, but there was no option for him but to carry them. Making it to the center of the town, he turned in mid-air and descended until landing in front of a certain tree-building, lifting some dust with his hooves. He pushed open the Library's door and waiting for him inside were the studious librarian, Twilight Sparkle, her assistant Spike and their two pets, with the owl surprisingly being awake in the middle of the day. They all greeted him warmly and the lavender unicorn trotted up to him with a big smile on her lips. _

"_How was it?" questioned Twilight eagerly, her eyes gleaming. He let go of his cargo, flexing his muscles and extending his wings to free himself from the stiffness._

"_It was pretty good, as always. Canterlot is a great place for performances, I couldn't be happier. And I think I'm getting a little bit better with Octavia. I honestly don't know what to do with that mare."_

_Twilight chuckled, pushing him playfully. "I'm sure you two will come around. For now, how about some tea?"_

He was shaken out of his fantasy by a strong hoof. When he came to his senses, he looked at Luna in front of him, with an even more concerned look. Celestia had approached the both of them and held the same concern.

"I'm sorry, Princesses." He shook his head, freeing himself completely. He then advanced, placing himself between the both of them.

"This is a truly wonderful place to live in. So many things are different from the place I come from. All the ponies and creatures I have met here are amazing, kind and sweet. I could stay here forever, maybe."

A silence followed his words. He shifted his gaze from one sister to the other and continued.

"Twilight once asked me what I was. I've been thinking about that since then. I still don't have the answer and I don't think I'll ever have it. But I know something. I am a human, not a pony. It was as I was born, and it is what I'll always be. Nothing else."

He concluded and said no more. Time seemed to stand still by the whole of the room, until Luna looked at her sister. The Princess of the Night trotted to stand by her sister's side, both alicorns sitting in front of him. He saw them exhibiting all their majesty and might, their manes waving as if a strong wind current pushed them. But soon he could see the tears that fell down both their faces, flowing endlessly. Celestia finally spoke again, with a quiet, but clear tone.

"I understand that, Albert. We would've wanted to embrace you among us. But we have to carry, as always, the burdens that plague Equestria. This is something that we really hoped never to get at. We wanted to offer Twilight and the girls the possibility of walking to an equally bright future. But it can't be avoided this time. I am deeply sorry about the circumstances that are tying you. But you don't want to hear about this, don't you? You want our five bits."

The tears kept flowing down Celestia's cheeks, but she kept on.

"Albert, you have to die."

From a serum bag hanging from the wall, liquid flowed down into the veins of a lavender unicorn lying on a bed, while six ponies and a small dragon surrounded her. Looking from between two of those ponies, a unicorn with a doctor robe assessed her condition. Suddenly, the bedridden unicorn began to shake slightly. All around her looked attentively. Finally, after some minutes, she opened her eyes slowly and began to take in the room, the faces of her friends. She spoke slowly.

"Girls? Where I am?"

Twilight Sparkle woke up.


	21. Lyra comes back

Twilight opened her eyes slowly. All around her was a blur of mixed colors and confusing voices. As time passed, her focus came back and she could see herself surrounded by her friends while lying on a bed in the castle, but only vaguely, as she felt very heavy and found herself unable to move. She could feel a pression in her left hoof and slowly turned her head to find Spike's small hand clutching her foreleg. The dimmest shadow of a smile touched her lips but she was too weak to say anything. She did however see the relief on her friends' faces as they saw her opening her eyes. Try as she might, she couldn't hold it, and soon returned to the realm of unconsciousness.

Her eyes opened again, when the colors of dusk were visible through the windows behind her bed. This time she was able to focus rather quickly. Spike slept, still holding her hoof. Rarity, Fluttershy and Bon Bon surrounded her bed; the white unicorn smiled softly to her as she noticed her gaze wandering around.

"Hello, Twilight," whispered Rarity just loud enough so that she would hear it. Fluttershy and Bon Bon looked over to her and a wave of relief crossed over their faces. "How are you feeling?" asked Rarity as she bent over to look at Twilight, extending her hoof to sway away locks of hair that fell in front of the librarian's eyes.

"I'd like a cup of water," asked Twilight, her voice soft. Rarity nodded and filled a cup from the water jug at Twilight's night table, floating it to her lips. Twilight drank the water slowly. After finishing, Rarity put the glass away and Twilight slowly stood up, getting into a sitting position on the bed. Spike opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Twilight, you're finally awake!" screamed the young dragon, his voice dripping with emotion and his eyes shining. A light smile appeared on Twilight's lips.

"You've been here with me all the time, haven't you? Thanks, Spike, you're the best."

He smiled widely, letting go of her hoof. She looked to the other side and saw the other two ponies that had remained silent.

"Hello, Fluttershy, Bon Bon, it's good to see you."

Fluttershy smiled as wide as Spike and approached to give a small hug to her friend, while Bon Bon just addressed her with a small smile. The pegasus looked at her.

"It's so good to see you, Twilight. So many days have gone past..."

Twilight's ears perked up at this and she tensed. She looked at her surrounding friends, her brow furrowed.

"How much time have I been out for?" Spike, Rarity and Fluttershy shuddered; Twilight had abruptly changed the tone of her voice, becoming all serious.

"Well, um, you've been here for four days already...," said Fluttershy, while avoiding her eyes. The lavender mare's eyes opened wide and she put her sheets away while trying to get out of bed, but her sudden dizziness caused her to fall back violently.

Rarity, Spike and Bon Bon were quick to hold her down.

"Twilight, you mustn't leave your bed yet!" cried the baby dragon.

"Darling, you're exhausted by the effort of transporting so many of us over such a large distance. You must still recover. We're alright, Twilight. Well, mostly..." Twilight looked at her friend.

"'Mostly' What does that mean, Rarity?"

"Well... We haven't seen Albert for the last few days, but the Princesses have said they'll have a reunion with us when you're feeling better." Rarity talked with a slow, quiet voice, seeking to soothe her excited unicorn friend.

"Princess Cadence, Shining Armor and your parents have been here as well everyday. They'll come soon, I think, it's almost night."

Twilight sunk back into the bed, feeling the comfortable pillows under her head. She bit her lip.

"But why haven't you seen Albert?"

Spike and Rarity shook their heads. The small dragon answered to her.

"The Princess called out for him some days ago, saying they needed to talk and since then we haven't seen him, and the Princesses haven't said anything since then, claiming you need to be in top shape for us to speak."

"But why would that be- " Twilight was now full awake, even if she still felt the heaviness weighing down on her. "What about Ponyville? The library, and them all!" She made the effort to stand up again, but Rarity pressed her against the bed, shushing her softly.

"It's ok, Twilight. Everything's fine. The town was placated a day after we came here. Sweetie Belle is staying with the Apples and Lyra returned from Las Pegasus. Apparently she has the aid of Derpy Hooves and they're looking after the library and the Boutique."

Rarity's expression was far from relieved with this information, but she said nothing, instead working on calming down her friend.

"I'm sure everything's going to be ok, Twilight." Spike smiled at her, and all the others followed suit. At that moment, the door was opened wildly and Pinkie Pie bounced inside. When she saw Twilight awake, she pulled from her mane somehow a trumpet and blew it strongly, her cheeks going red. Not even Bon Bon batted an eye.

"Yippee, Twilight! I thought you'd be a sleepy mare some more, but it's good to see you as a wakey mare, because you miss so many things when you are a sleepy mare for so much and mhmhmm..."

Pinkie's rant was interrupted by Bon Bon's hoof pressing into her mouth. The calmer earth pony was already used to dealing with her hyperactive friend. Once Pinkie had shut down, she removed her hoof. The pink mare approached Twilight with a quieter bounce. She lowered her head until their noses were almost touching, and whispered wiith a very theatrical voice.

"I'll set up the best "You've gotten better" par-tay once you're off that bed, Twi! Do you know how much time has gone past without a single party? Too much, and that's no good! So get well soon, ok?!" Pinkie bopped Twilight's nose with her pink hoof and made the unicorn laugh heartily, until the point of cleaning away tears of laughter. She nodded to her friend.

"I'll wait eagerly for that, Pinkie."

"Okie dokie lokie!"

Pinkie sat down next to Bon Bon. After that, Twilight's stomach growled wildly. After they all laughed, Spike reached for a bowl of fruit and peeled an orange for Twilight, who began eating slowly. When she was eating her third orange, the door opened once again and Applejack and Rainbow Dash entered the room. Their faces shone alight when they saw Twilight.

"It was about time, egghead!" teased Rainbow, smirking.

"Howdy, Twi! Feelin' better now?"

"Yes, I'm feeling quite a lot better now, though my magic still seems to be quite far from returning. It's good to see you too, Rainbow Dash," said Twilight in a half sarcastic tone.

The minutes passed amicably, as the sun lowered in the distance and candles were alight. New steps were heard coming closer and the door opened again, letting in the three princesses, Shining Armor and Twilight's parents. Twilight briefly wondered about the dimensions of the room to hold so many ponies and Spike. It didn't last very much, as her friends left the room, excusing themselves, leaving only her family inside. Her parents approached her.

"Good night, Twily." Her mother nuzzled her. "Too bad we have to get to see you like this."

"How are you feeling?" asked her father, with the concern clearly written in his voice.

"I'm fine, dad, I'm sure I'll be up soon." He smiled and stepped aside to let Shining come through. The younger stallion hugged his sister warmly.

"Always one to outdo yourself, aren't you, little sis?"

"Like you're one to talk, B.B.B. F.F." They both burst into joyful laughter. After it receded Twilight waved to Cadence, who smiled to her and hugged her, but didn't say anything, which Twilight wondered about for a second. Then Celestia and Luna came forward.

"It's good to see you up again, Twilight Sparkle."

"Thanks, Princess. I'm sorry for having made you worry."

"'Tis' nothing. Recover soon, I want to speak more with you." Twilight was accustomed to see Luna as a less cheerful figure than her sister, but her tone of voice seemed to be even more distant than before. The Princess of the Night retreated and excused herself, leaving the room.

She then looked towards Celestia, who returned her look.

"Hello, Twilight. I'm very relieved to see you up again. We've been all too worried for you. It's nice to see you surrounded by so many concerned ponies, don't you think?" Her gaze turned to her family. Twilight's mother smiled.

"That's true, Princess. I was starting to think my little Light would never get some true company outside of the family, or you."

The mare looked dreamily towards her daughter. "Now all that's remains is for you to find a nice significant other. I'd be so thrilled."

Twilight smiled sheepishly, as the image of a certain green unicorn flashed through her mind briefly. She blushed and looked away from her mother. She could see the shadow of a sinister smirk in her mentor's face and the look they exchanged contained everything that needed to be said.

"I, um, I'll have to think about it, mother... I'm still young, and..."

"Nonsense, Twilight! Look at your brother. He's already happily married and in a very good standing. Wouldn't you like that?"

The blush on her face grew stronger, and she could feel Celestia's and Cadence's looks upon her, though while the former was a mischievous one, the second one was one of a raised eyebrow at her. She still kept her silence, though.

"I suppose, mother."

Twilight had never even considered the idea of telling her family about her relationship up until now, tangled in so many things as she was. But it struck her now just how important would that thing be now.

The older unicorn smiled. "Well, dear, your father and I must go back home now. We're glad to see you well. Take care of yourself, won't you?"

"Yes, I promise." She hugged her parents, Shining and Cadence, who left the room, leaving her alone with Celestia. Night had fallen completely; the light of the candles illuminated them both. Celestia wore her royal mask as well as always, but for her nearest pupil, it was useless.

"What's the matter, Princess?"

No answer came from the mare in front of her. Twilight rose from the bed, walking slowly towards Celestia.

"Is something happening?"

After some more silence, Celestia looked down at her. "Rest up and recover, Twilight. Then we'll talk. Is that good?"

"But Princess, why not now? Why have you, Luna and Cadence been acting so weird? Where's Albert?"

"We'll talk soon, Twilight. For now, I think it's better if you go back to resting"

"But I can't! What about..." But Twilight couldn't continue. All around her became blurry. The heaviness she had been feeling grew up and she couldn't feel herself. She was however, sure that her mentor hadn't used any type of magic. She felt very confused before falling again into a veil of darkness.

Dinky was asleep, her chest rising and falling with a certain beat. She suddenly thrusted a hoof forwards as if trying to push away somepony.

"No, Pipsqueak, stop! That's not fair! Hahahaha!" The filly began tossing around, only her mother's hooves stopped her from falling out of the chair. Nonetheless, she had a big smile on her face as she kept trying to keep Pipsqueak at bay, Lyra and Derpy smiled at the sight. Sparkler sat by Lyra's side and watched out of the window as the landscape presented itself before her.

Lyra looked at the pegasus in front of her. She looked at Derpy watching her daughter with a blissful expression on her face, so different from the one she had had that night, pained and tired. Lyra looked at her golden eyes and she recalled how she had looked into them at that time and realized how they were so similar to their own, barring the mailmare's unfortunate accident. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind for the time being. The presentation in the glamorous city hadn't been as chaotic as she had presumed them to be, given the cosmopolitan city's reputation, and she made a mental note to talk to Stage about future presentations. She decided to tune out for the remainder of the journey, eager to see Ponyville as soon as she could.

"Wake up, Lyra," called a voice from far away, as she was shaken by a hoof. She turned around, protesting with a sleepy voice.

"Not yet, Bon,.."

"I'm not Bon Bon, silly."

"Wake up. We're about to..."

"...arrive to Ponyville."

A jab in her side finally made her jump, falling to the floor. She blinked; she rarely fell to the floor in her sleep, and opened her eyes seeing the bottom of the train compartments. Rising up, she looked behind her and she found the laughing family behind her.

"Oh, right, the train. How are you, girls?"

After parting ways with the Hooves family, promising to meet with Derpy soon, Lyra set course for the apartment. While she made her way through the town, she found something strange about the ponies she met, despite them acting as friendly as ever. She didn't pay any attention to it, Ponyville being the weird town that it was, and reached her home soon.

But when she reached home and found it closed, she felt something pulling at her mind. She opened the door and saw no lights on. She called loudly, her voice echoing through the building.

"Bon Bon?!" She received no answer. She examined the first floor, and then trotted upstairs. The usual order and cleanliness that her friend kept around the house wasn't present, as small layers of dust covered the furniture and other places. She could not wrap around in her mind such a state of things; everything was so clean and neat when Bon Bon was around. Lyra dropped her luggage on top of her bed and walked outside, running to the Library. But when she arrived there, she found the curtains drawn and the building almost empty. Only Peewee's hoots called out to her, and she trotted over to see the two birds perched on top of a couple of bookshelves. The small phoenix came down and greeted her with a loud chirp.

"Peewee! What's happening around here, buddy? Are you hungry? ...What's that smell... Oh."

Lyra fed Peewee, cleaned the birds' droppings from the shelves, and checked around for somepony's presence, but once again found nothing. She bid goodbye to the little bird, while the owl slept on, and went over to the nearest building, Carousel Boutique, which was just as empty.

"Just what the hay is going on here? Where's everypony?"

She then hurried to Sugarcube Corner and opened its door frantically, shocking everyone inside. Not minding one bit, she ran to the counter and confronted a surprised Mr. Cake.

"Mr. Cake, is Pinkie here? Bon Bon? Twilight? Somepony?"

He looked uneasy towards her. He then turned to his wife. "Honey, can you stay here for a couple of minutes?" Mrs. Cake nodded and the stallion led Lyra to the back room, where he relayed the whole story to her. By the end of it, she had her mouth and eyes quite open in horror.

"I can't believe that... I just can't believe..." She didn't cry, but she could barely hold herself up. Mr. Cake looked at her with sympathy.

"We've received word from Canterlot. They are safe in the castle, but the princess said they wouldn't be back just yet. We've got to wait."

She stood there, simply looking at him, and then shook her head. "No, I can't do that. I've got to leave, Mr. Cake. Thanks!"

And she sped off before the earth pony had any saying on it, leaving confused clients in her wake. She made it to her house, but halfway up the stairs, she stopped. She looked behind her, to the first floor and then up to the second. She thought of the lonely library and its inhabitants. She thought of her pegasus friend. Her tail flicked and she sighed.

"I'll wait. I suppose I can get through a letter..."

She descended again and entered the kitchen to start organizing it.


	22. An Apple in the Garden

Twilight's head ached as she opened her eyes once again, with everything spinning around her.

"Good morning, Twilight!" cried Spike's voice. She turned around to see the small dragon smiling at her widely. She smiled as well and looked around, confirming that only her and Spike were around. She looked at him questioningly.

"Where are the girls, Spike?" She coughed, taking a hoof to her mouth. "Can you pass me a glass of water, please?"

"Sure, Twi." He walked over to the night table, serving a cup of water and handing it to her. He sat back. "They went to write letters to home and friends, Celestia said she'll send them personally. She's been quite weird all this time, you know?"

Twilight finished downing the water, passing the glass back to Spike and feeling the cold going down her throat, which hurt her a little. She closed her eyes and gargled, opening them again to look at him. "Like what, Spike?"

"Well, you couldn't tell it normally. She's a good hiding things that are passing through her head as always, but especially when she comes over here I can tell she's being bothered by something. Luna also hides it, but she's rather easier to read. I think they're itching to talk about it, though."

Twilight nodded, and tossed the covers off of her, making to leave the bed. "Then let's not waste any more time; I've been lying in here quite enough, and besides, the Princess has to answer to me anyway. She put me to sleep when we were having a talk, can you believe that?!" But no sooner that she had her put her four hooves on the floor, her stomach rumbled with the strength of a minor quake. She blushed while Spike chuckled.

"I guess we ought to go and get some breakfast first. Maybe we'll find the girls along the way."

"I'm with you, boss."

They left Twilight's room. Outside the corridor there was nopony to be found, not even a single guard, and so they took the straight path to the dining hall. Down there, Rainbow, Bon Bon and Pinkie were having breakfast. The pink mare waved happily and mumbled with her mouth full, making the other two -who were sitting with their backs facing them- turn around.

"Hey, Twi, you're finally out of that boring room, cool. Come you two, grab a bite."

"Good morning, Twilight. Did you rest well?" Behind her, Pinkie swallowed her food, jumping afterwards to get the attention of the lavender pony, encasing her in a strong hug.

"I'm so happy to see you, Twilight! I missed you, and Spike missed you, and we all missed you! " Before Twilight could say anything or even grab a breath from the embrace, Pinkie somehow managed to add Spike, Rainbow and Bon Bon into the mix, pressing them until they almost ran out of oxygen. When she finally let go after all their muffled protests she smiled widely and went back to her seat.

"Well, what are you doing just standing there? Let's EAT!" chirped the earth pony, stuffing herself again with a piece of bread. Twilight couldn't help but smile at her friend's antics as she sat down between Dash and Spike, with Bon Bon at the other side of the pegasus. She grabbed a piece of toast from a large plate nearby and added toast to it, taking a bite. After pouring herself some milk from a nearby jar and testing her magic with positive results she beamed.

"The others are still writing mail?"

"Well, Rarity is. She found the scrolls Princess Celestia gave us "so much beautiful" that she's spent all this time trying different colors of ink and writing like a total egghead! Urgh!" Rainbow stuck her tongue out, rolling her eyes. "Fluttershy's been with her. The rest of us scrawled quick notes; Celestia said we'd probably be back tomorrow. She wants Luna to be around when we have that talk it seems. As for Applejack, since she met the palace gardeners, she's been hanging around with them. She said there were quite a lot of interesting flowers here; she's probably thinking of planting some in the farm, since it's it's mostly cultivable products. Whew, that was long."

Rainbow took a big chug out of her milk glass, with Twilight drinking a mere sip.

"I wonder what that could be," mused the unicorn, finishing the first toast and picking up another. "Any news of Albert yet?"

"Nope, nothing!" answered Pinkie, looking right into Twilight's eyes for a second, so fast that the unicorn didn't notice, absorbed as she was into her food, just like her draconic companion. Next to Dash, Bon Bon took a dainty bite out of a muffin.

"I miss Ponyville," said simply the cream colored mare. "We've been several days here now. I wonder how things are going up over there..." She cast a glance over to Twilight, while all the others ceased in their eating to look at her.

Rainbow dropped her piece into the plate and her eyes blurred a little, Pinkie lost her bounciness and Spike played with his food. Twilight looked around and pushed her plate away, walking over to the door.

"I'm going to see the Princess." A chromatic blur passed by her side and she almost collided with Rainbow Dash standing in front of her.

"Let's go, I'm getting bored here, you know?"

Twilight and Dash walked over to the Throne Room. The Princess sat there with the accustomed guard at her feet. It was too early for audiences, so she was reviewing some documents. Twilight walked slowly up to the bottom of the stairs, and rised a hoof to her mouth, coughing quietly.

"Excuse me, Princess?"

The royal mare lifted her face from the papers she was reading and looked at the two ponies below. She put the parchments to one side and descended, standing next to them.

"Good morning, Twilight, Rainbow Dash. Did you sleep well, my student?"

"You should know, you sent me to sleep rather than talk with me..." Twilight avoided her mentor's eyes, fixing her gaze at a point in the wall behind Celestia.

"What?! Sent you to sleep? Why did you do that, Princess?" asked Dash loudly.

"And how did you do it? I didn't even see your horn flaring up?" followed Twilight, turning back to look at her. Celestia returned the gaze. She finally spoke up.

"We shall discuss all of that later, if it's all good with you, Twilight."

"But Princess! What is it that you are keeping so covered up? I'm your student! Haven't we talked about many things? What it is this all?" Twilight lashed out in a verbose barrage that even caused Rainbow Dash to fell silent, as the unicorn threw herself before Celestia with tearful eyes. The royal princess simply shook her head and her horn light up.

"I'm sorry, Twilight. We'll disclose everything tonight, I promise you," said the princess, while discharging her magic. Twilight and Rainbow found themselves in front of the throne room, which wouldn't bulge or open. Twilight finally stopped, falling to her haunches, simply looking at the door.

"I don't understand, Rainbow Dash. I don't understand anything of it."

"You're the egghead, Twilight. If you don't understand I couldn't even hope to grasp my mind around it. Come on, let's get outta here; the Princess better speak tonight or I'll speak my mind definitely, to whoever I have to."

Rainbow held Twilight as they walked slowly across the corridor. They came back to Twilight's room. The unicorn trotted to the bed and went to lay on top of it, while the pegasus opened the window, letting the air come in and looking out to the horizon. The current that blew from outside shuffled Twilight's mane and made her shiver with cold, despite there being few clouds in the blue sky.

"Things have just gotten weirder since he turned up here, Dash."

"Uhum." The chromatic mare nodded absent mindedly, still looking out of the window, when there was a knock on the door. Rarity's voice passed through.

"Twilight, darling, are you in there?"

"Yes, Rarity, come on in," answered Twilight,without too much enthusiasm. The door opened and after the white unicorn came inside Spike, Bon Bon, Fluttershy and Pinkie, who shut the door behind her. Now the whole group was reunited, except for Applejack.

"Hello, Twilight, are you feeling better?" Fluttershy approached her, looking worried. She put her front hooves in the bed. Twilight smiled bitterly.

"I think I'm fine, Fluttershy, but I'd like to get this all over with."

The garden of Canterlot Castle was a circle shaped structure as big as the labyrinth that lay near. Many different flowers were grown in it, creating beautiful views for those who walked around. A team of skilled gardeners were volunteers to keep the garden in proper shaper. Princess Celestia herself would sometimes give them a helping hoof.

A certain golden haired earth pony mare walked around them, looking at all the different kinds of flowers she had been learning about during the last few days. She headed towards a certain spot where a bed full of red roses was grown. She lowered her head to take a look at the stunning view. Its deep crimson hue brought her memories of her siblings, as always. She soon broke apart, pushing aside the heaviness of her feelings as best as she could, though the smell of ripe apples ready for harvest didn't stop following her. She turned to the left, finding herself in another known alley of the garden. She was greeted by a bed of lavenders, emanating a deep, nice aroma. She trotted over to the bushes and sniffed them.

The captivating scent filled Applejack's nostrils as she smelt the small purple flower. The bush she was sticking her head into had a whole set of those flowers, all emanating the same aroma, one as she never had smelt in Ponyville, though admittedly, the farm mare was not one to fuss over flowers normally. It brought to her mind the image of a certain pony she had recently met.

"And here she is, the mare that lifted her eyebrow in skepticism when I told him my life was to tend to flower gardens," laughed the pony trotting next to her, a pegasus stallion with a dusty blonde mane and a dark brown body, sporting a sunflower shaped cutie mark.

Applejack glared at him. "Y'all be bringin' that up all the time, won't ya?"

"Yep." The pegasus grinned with honey colored eyes and Applejack turned her gaze away, feeling herself flush at the sight; the very same one he had thrown by her side when they first met She closed her eyes to regain the composure.

"Ah never see this that much over at the farm; with all the work on the harvest an' all that, Ah never had put that much thought on it, but it is pretty... just as you."

She turned her head when she heard a rustling sound and was faced with him carrying one of the flowers by the stem and reaching over to put it in her hair. Applejack feared she would die from anemia or from her face exploding, as she felt the blood from her whole body rushing to her cheeks. She looked into his eyes and found the same sweet smile.

"Ah... Y'all..." She could not make any coherent words come from her mouth and settled for turning around and running into the castle, leaving behind a very shocked pegasus.

"Very well, we shall see into that soon. Thank you for bringing your concern to us, an official response will be issued soon. I wish you a safe departure and journey."

"You are too kind, Princess. May your reign be always prosper and well ventured."

"You are too kind, gentle pony."

"As are you, princess. I bid you farewell, then."

"That concludes the audiences for today, Princess," announced the guard heralding the audience line.

"Very well. Blue Quill, please file the reports for future revising. Day Court is now dismissed."

Celestia walked out, to the castle door, and watched the sun coming down; it was still a couple hours away from setting down and so she went into the castle again.

"Hey, Applejack, is that a flower you've got stuck in your mane?!" Rainbow Dash ran to the country mare's side, with a big smirk on her face. "Must say you look stunning!" And with that, the chromatic mare went down in a stream of full force laughter.

"Consarnit, Ah forgot..." She pulled the lavender out of her mane and ate it in one bite, swallowing it.

"I for one say that looked quite well in you, dear Applejack. I say the loss of that hat is one thing that greatly benefited you," said Rarity, smiling. "If only you allowed for some grooming..."

"Yeah, y'all say. Well, this ain't no fancy-schmancy occasion and my mane is perfectly well as it is. The first thing Ah'm doin' when Ah get back is to pick up mah hat. That's if them ruffians didn't rip it to shreds..." Applejack snorted, her green eyes almost reflecting the flames she was expelling inside. Rarity backed out.

"Fine, darling, do not get worked up like that; it's not ladylike."

"Did something happen, Applejack?" asked Twilight, looking at her. The earth pony returned the gaze, and swallowed a lump into her throat.

"Yes, something happened. But … Ah don't know..."

Rainbow stepped at her side that instant and gave a pat on her head, with a warm smile directed to her. "Aw, come on, you know you're between friends. Out with it."

All her friends surrounded her. Down her face slipped a bead of sweat.

"Well, ah suppose. Ah like Wing Seed," stated Applejack dryly.

They all let out a gasp, Rainbow Dash hit the air with her hoof while Rarity's mouth dropped almost to the floor. The only one who didn't share that reaction was Twilight, who stood there dumbfounded.

"Just who is that? What did I miss? Tell me, Applejack!"

"He... he's one of the castle gardeners. Ah met him three days ago. Ah know that's nothing, but... but he had such a face.. And he began to talk to me about gardening and so many things... Ah had never known a pony outside the Apple family that had such a passion for it..."

Applejack blushed strongly while Twilight looked at her. The unicorn finally clasped her hooves together and jumped around, catching her friend in an embrace. "That's so sweet, Applejack! And he gave you that flower? What did you say to him? What did you say? Ohh, this is just like in those romantic novels I've borrowed for Fluttershy and Rarity... Or like Lyra's music..." Twilight's face became dreamy as she remembered her lover's gifts; the door was slammed strongly by a small dragon after leaving, but no one paid any attention to him as they were all hanging on the words being said. Even Rainbow Dash, though she would have passed it off as listening to her friend.

Applejack chuckled nervously. "Thing is... Ah kinda ran away from him."

The emotive atmosphere built in the room came to a shocking halt.

"What?!" Six voices rebounded around the room, making all the ponies cover their ears and wince.

A knock at the door followed it, and an irritated Dash went to open the door.

"What is it?! We're in the middle of something here!"

The royal guard standing on the other side of the room answered with a monotone voice.

"The Princesses require your presence in the Throne Room presently. They would like for you to go as soon as possible."

Silence suddenly filled the room. Twilight went to met the guard. "Yes, we'll go now."


	23. Goodbye

The doors to the throne room were opened by Twilight's lavender glow. She led the way to her friends. Once Bon Bon went inside as the last, she shut the door again. From the glass panels at both sides of the royal room, the dying day shed its last lights inside. Both Luna and Celestia were standing at the bottom of the stairs leading to the thrones. Both their faces were framed by light frowns, which Twilight noted first. The group walked until approaching both.

"Welcome, everypony. Thank you for coming now." Celestia addressed the group in a quiet voice. Luna looked at the whole group, in silence; her eyes gleamed briefly.

"I'm glad to see you finally up and about, Twilight." The lavender unicorn felt quite flushed by the maternal gaze the ruler of the Sun cast upon her, avoiding her eyes. "A mass teleportation spell like that; a very lucky pony would need weeks to recover. You have shown once again why you are the embodiment of Magic. I'm proud of you."

"I'm also very proud of all of you. You have been very calm these days, despite being disconnected from your loved ones. I know these last days have been really long ones. It has been a real trial for all of you and we, Luna and I, commend you on your admirable reception of it."

"Where's Albert, Princess?"

Twilight's voice cut through Celestia's speech as a sharp knife sliced a leaf in two.

Her purple eyes broke through the princess clear blue ones. After some moments of silence, in which she saw herself reflected into her student's pupils, Celestia nodded in silence, and pointed a hoof in front of where she and Luna were standing.

"Please gather around."

The group quickly complied, Twilight was at the center, facing the two sisters. At her left stood spike, next to Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack, in front of Celestia. At her other side Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Bon Bon, looking at Luna.

Both sisters looked at each other, nodding slightly before turning their faces back at them. The last ray of sunlight passed away, delivering the room into the clutches of a darkness that wrapped around all of them. Both of the horns of the royal sisters shone alight. Sets of candles standing in high chandeliers at both sides of them flickered alive one by one. Bon Bon and Fluttershy looked around; now an eerie atmosphere reigned over the room and the pegasus started shaking, despite there not being any air currents inside.

"We have vanquished him," said Celestia flatly.

Eight pairs of ears perked up. Twilight, as well as Fluttershy, Rarity, Spike and Bon Bon took a step backwards. The light from the candles flickered and danced around them, casting shapeless shadows all over the place.

"Excuse me, Princess?" Twilight approached Celestia, her ears still standing, as she approached her mentor. The royal pony looked over to her. She and her sister now were covered by shadows, but Twilight could definitely see now their tired visages, reflected in eyes lacking any shine.

"Without Chaos, there cannot be any Harmony. They are two forces that oppose each other, but also help define their counterpart; if you lacked any chaos in your life, how would you be able to appreciate what is righteous and ordered? That is why we have places such as the Everfree Forest or the perpetually frozen Northern lands, where the weather manages itself, as it did in the whole of what is now Equestria a long, long time ago."

Celestia fell silent. She walked over to one of the walls, looking at the scenes depicted at the stained glasses, which went from the most recent great event in Equestrian history to the days of the migration of the three races, the awakening of Discord and the Sisters. All the eyes were fixed on her, until Luna's voice resounded, making they all look back. The younger sister stood seemingly much more composed than Celestia, though still with the weariness etched in her face.

"When Discord first appeared, he reigned for several weeks. He was finally ensnared, but the effects of the uncontrolled Chaos he had brought were still felt upon the land for a long time afterwards. My sister and I struggled in those early days to help the ponies construct what would be their new homeland. Developing farming, as up until that time, ponies just lived from what they could find around, reigning in the rampaging weather, building living spaces, settling down quarrels. Those were very busy days, and that is why we did not keep an eye on those humans that had appeared. As everything was in a general disarray, we payed no mind to it. As the years passed, an orderly approach finally began to establish itself, but we still were required to watch over it, and we never had a chance to interact with them."

As the group continued listening to Luna, Celestia came to sit behind them silently.

"The recent return of Discord was much shorter, but it still left its mark. And it is in Ponyville, where he established his new reign, where its effects are stronger, as evidenced by what I have read on your reports to Celestia. Then this portal was opened, and Albert came to our land. Everything then increases tenfold suddenly and ponies get nervous. In the back of their minds, there is a wisp of the memory of ancient times. They get borderline violent. That is why you are here now."

As Luna's discourse went on, an air of sadness fell over the group. Pinkie's hair was beginning to lose it bounciness, but they still stood listening.

"This was in no way his fault. He got carried here by forces he could not even fathom before arriving. But it does not cloak the fact that he had a great quantity of chaos energy pent up into his body. And so we called him over yesterday.

There was a way to remove all of it from him. Had he wanted to, we would have transformed him into a pony, while excising all the negative energy from his new body. But he refused. He hung to his identity as a human, despite the face of him being the only one of his race existing in Equestria."

"And so we had no choice but to erase him completely." Celestia finished Luna's words and then both sisters ended their speech.

"WHY?! Why did you do that?!" Rainbow Dash sped, and in a moment she was in front of Celestia. Her magenta eyes pierced the princess.

Fluttershy and Bon Bon cried copiously, while Rarity, also on the brink of tears, held a hoof to her mouth. Pinkie was silent, her mane and tail completely deflated, an empty look in her eyes. Applejack gawked, her mouth opening and closing. Finally she managed to articulate something.

"Ah can't believe that..."

Twilight was as struck and silent as Pinkie, barely feeling when Spike clung to her foreleg. "Twilight..."

She lowered her gaze to look at him but didn't really register his presence. Everything in the room presented itself as surreal and far away; the voices and sobs only grazed her ears.

"We are deeply sorry, Rainbow Dash, but there was no other solution available to preserve the peace on Equestria and for himself."

"But... but..." The cyan pegasus lost all momentum. She slowly slid to the floor, resting on her hind legs. Her mane lost all the shine and she just looked at the floor tiles, unmoving. "No..."

Luna walked around them, to join her sister. "I know what you are feeling right now. You know as well that this is the burden of the rulers of Equestria. We are making no excuses for what happened. This is another thing my sister and I will have to live with."

Bon Bon stopped crying, gathering herself as much as she could, and trotted over to Pinkie, catching the pink mare in an embrace. Pinkie didn't move from her place, but she turned her head to look at the cream colored mare. Their eyes met silently and Pinkie returned the hug. Rarity went next to Fluttershy and slid a hoof over her back, pressing herself to the pegasus. Applejack stood next to Rainbow Dash, nudging the colorful mare, who didn't budge an inch.

"Come on, Dash, stand up." The addressed pony looked up, into Applejack's green eyes.

"But Albert is dead. He's gone, Applejack!"

"Ah know, gal, ah know. Ah-" The earth pony suddenly cut herself mi-sentence, as she felt her own eyes watering, and the tears flowing freely. Dash cried as well, her sobbing and cries filling the air with despair.

Twilight walked over to Celestia, with Spike by her side. The lack of any tears in her eyes didn't belittle the turmoil of her soul as she looked at her mentor and her sister standing side by side. She opened her mouth to speak, but found no words coming from it, just another void.

"Nightmare Moon was excised from Princess Luna. An evil mare who tried to cast the whole land into a curse of eternal night."

Luna backed before the gaze of Twilight. Celestia answered calmly

"That is a story past behind us now. You yourself were trying to get Luna a reprieve from it all, weren't you, Twilight?"

"Yes, i was. She is gone now, truly. But Discord, the father of Chaos got encased into stone. Chrysalis, who invaded our lands, hasn't been sought for after she was expelled from the kingdom."

"We will deal with Chrysalis as we are wont to do. I can't give you anymore than that. We couldn't seal him, because he wasn't actively damaging Equestria; for the Elements of Harmony he was no threat. We deeply regret this course of action. But we didn't have any other."

The lavender unicorn turned back to see her damaged friends sticking to each other; her tail flicked around.

"We're going back to Ponyville, if that's fine with you, Princess."

Celestia nodded, even though none of the group was looking at her, with Twilight's back in front of her. The lavender unicorn was embraced to Rarity and Spike, while the others approached them. She opened the doors, calling one of the guards standing before them, relaying instructions to have carriages to Ponyville prepared.

Outside of the castle, the vehicles awaited for the group. The princesses ordered for a collection of sweaters and jackets from the royal wardrobe to be brought, and they were soon outfitted for the chilling night. They trotted out of the castle in silence, with Spike riding on Twilight's back, as the Princesses watched them departing.

They made it to the four carriages stationed outside. Twilight and Spike jumped to one, Rarity and Fluttershy occupied another, Bon Bon and Pinkie took the third and the last one received Applejack and Rainbow Dash, the latter of whom was in no disposition to fly anywhere. Celestia and Luna watched the carriages taking off, and disappearing into the distance, until becoming nothing more that a tiny dot in the distance, among Luna's stars. They looked at each other, and Celestia turned to head inside the castle.

"Good night, sister. Sleep well," called out Luna, as she kept looking towards the black night sky.

The four chariots crossed the sky swiftly, its pegasi carriers didn't seem to be affected by the chilling air or the lack of light as they made their way across the open air. The seven mares and small dragon aboard them simply awaited arrival in silence. They landed at Ponyville's park, not too far from the Library. Twilight thanked the pegasi and they settled off back again to Canterlot.

Looking around her, Twilight saw that most ponies were tucked in the safety of their houses, with the odd pony trotting around that sped off when seeing them.

"Let's go to the Library? We can spend the night there, and in the morning, everypony can go home."

They all nodded and headed towards Twilight's home, finding, to their surprise, the lights on as they approached the tree building. They came to a halt at the front of the door.

"Consarnit, just what we needed. Y'all think those fanatics were waiting for us the whole time?" Applejack snorted, pawing at the floor with a hoof.

"But there aren't many sounds coming out from the inside. Rainbow, can you tell us what you see?" asked Twilight, with her ear pressed against the door. The pegasus complied silently, flapping her wings without much energy and looking around the windows. She circled the tree and came back to land next to the group.

"Can't see anypony around, just a bunch of lights turned on. The door to the balcon is closed, but everything seems to be alright."

"At any rate, let's go inside. Better confront all this right now than going around aimlessly. What else can be there for us..."

Twilight opened the door and the seven ponies plus Spike entered to find a library with half the books tossed around. Twilight gasped and ran to check on the volumes lying on top of tables and everywhere on the floor, with the help of Spike. None of the books seemed to have suffered significant damage and she let out a breath of relief, when she heard the hoofsteps coming down the stairs and turned along with the others to see Lyra coming down from them. The musician grinned widely upon seeing the whole group in front of her and ran to meet them. Somehow she managed to embrace the whole of them, her tail flicking madly around. She finally let go and sat on her haunches with a sheen on her golden eyes that managed to bring a tiny smile to Twilight's lips. The lavender unicorn stepped forth and met her marefriend with a strong embrace, burying her face in her mane. Lyra received her with a perplexed expression.

"I've missed you too, Light," said the stunned Lyra, feeling the tears scurrying down and hearing Twilight's muffled sobs. She looked around to the group, who was simply standing around quietly.

"What's the matter, everypony?" She caressed slowly Twilight's mane, keeping a hoof on the back of the sobbing unicorn. Her eyes flickered towards Spike at one side of the group. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Bon Bon, Pinkie and Fluttershy. She backtracked, her gaze falling once again on Spike.

"Hey, girls, where's Albert?"

Twilight's crying became louder and deeper, as the lavender unicorn pressed herself against her marefriend, whose golden eyes opened widely all of a sudden.


	24. Return to Ponyville

The constant pounding at the door woke them all up as they all lay in the middle of the library. Tables had been set against the walls and mattresses, pillows and sheets had been prepared for the whole group to stay at the library, with all the books that had previously been scattered all over now stacked on top of the tables. Twilight and Lyra had slept entwined to each other's hooves. Bon Bon and Pinkie Pie cuddled together. Rarity was in the middle of Fluttershy and Spike, while Rainbow Dash slept next to the shy pegasus, with Applejack having her back against Twilight's.

"Who the hay calls at the door this early?" screamed an angry Dash, stretching her wings and legs. Bon Bon and Pinkie headed for the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

"Just a minute!" called Twilight, walking over to the restroom to give herself a clean-up. From the mirror, a frazzled, unkempt unicorn looked back at her. She shook her head and splashed her face with water, giving herself a quick brushing before going back to the main room to open; she passed through a still sleeping Lyra on the way, as all the others had already scattered, and despite herself, a small smile adorned her lips as she looked at the musician's chest heaving. She made it to the door and opened to find Mayor Mare smiling at her from the outside, her eyes clearly scanning the interior, where Lyra lay. She lifted a hoof to her mouth and coughed.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

Twilight maintained a serious expression, containing herself. "It is nothing, Mayor Mare. What do I owe such an early visit to, if I might ask?"

"Well, Ms. Sparkle, I was informed very early today when I arrived to my office that your group seemed to have arrived yesterday in the dark, and so I decided it priority to come and see you, given that our last meeting was unexpectedly cut short."

The politician kept her smile on as she said each word. Twilight's tail flicked while she was listening.

"The human is not here," said Twilight flatly when the mayor stopped talking, not moving a single muscle. The other pony's facade dropped instantly, her glasses slipping to the tip of her muzzle. She fixed them with her hoof.

"I- is that so?"

"So it is," answered Twilight with the same monotone voice. "You can check up if you want. He's not coming back, either."

"Hey, Twilight, breakfast's ready. Bring Lyra over!" called Spike's voice from the kitchen.

Twilight lavender's eyes locked on the mayor's blue ones. "Do you want to come in?"

"N-no, that's quite fine, Ms. Sparkle. I wish you and your friends a good day. Ta-ta!"

The earth pony turned back and trotted away and for the first time, Twilight noticed the crowd of ponies that had been passing by and stopped to see the scene. Once the mayor was gone and they felt the librarian's gaze upon them. they dispersed quickly. Twilight snorted and closed the door unkindly behind her, trotting over to her significant other lying on the floor. She lowered her muzzle, pushing it into Lyra's neck.

"Wake up, sleepyhead, there's breakfast."

The other unicorn lifted a hoof and waved it, making Twilight dodge it. Twilight chuckled and pressed her snout against Lyra's cheek. "Come on, love, wake up."

Unable to ignore it anymore, Lyra's golden eyes opened and she turned to look at Twilight. She smiled at her. "Good morning, Light." She stretched herself and rose to stand on her legs, both unicorns walking together to the kitchen, where all of the others were already sitting around the table. They settled themselves in the space at the far side of the table and each levitated a toast from the bowl in the middle of the table, while having milk in two glasses in front of them. They all were eating slowly and quietly

Despite the table being more than filled by them all, Twilight could feel the air of emptiness that floated all around. She, like all around her, was eating mechanically to fill the void in her stomach.

Applejack finished drinking her milk in a single chug, putting the glass on the table, which resounded with a clink. She fixed the Stetson lying on top of her head.

"Well, gals, is about mighty time that Ah went back home; mah family can't wait any more."

"Um, Applejack, I'll be going with you, I must check up on all my little friends. I'm sure you took good care of them, Lyra, but when they're all alone for such a long time, they get restless," said Fluttershy hastily. The unicorn smiled.

"I was more than once tempted to get a wallet made out of little Angel's skin..."

Fluttershy gasped in shock. "No! I know that Angel's a little rough sometimes, but you wouldn't do that!"

Lyra smiled sheepishly. "Relax, Fluttershy, I was only joking, of course! A little, " she whispered, receiving a poke from Twilight under the table.

The earth pony and pegasus left together. Rainbow Dash left as well, flying out of the library. Rarity excused herself soon enough.

"Well, Lyra, I'm going to check up on our house. I hope you've done a good job on it. Coming, Pinkie?" Bon Bon turned to her earth pony companion, who nodded.

"Yup, let's go!"

The couple of earth ponies were the last ones to exit the library, leaving inside only Twilight, Lyra and Spike, who was cleaning the dishes. Both unicorns looked at each other.

"I fled," said Twilight out of the blue; a shadow covered her face. Lyra tilted her head to one side and Spike left his chores to look at her.

"What do you mean, Twilight?" asked Lyra, putting a hoof on top of her marefriend's one. Spike sat by her other side, a worried look on his face.

"Twilight..."

"I fled from the Princess instead of talking. I should have gotten to that first thing. But I was so shocked at the time... I still don't know what to think about it. What should I do."

She stood up from the chair and went on walking around the library, leaving a dumbfounded Spike and Lyra looking at her. The musician soon regained her bearings though, and walked over to her. "Stop there, Light. You're making me dizzy!"

Twilight stopped and looked at her, her eyes twitching. "But I don't know what should I do! I can't ask Princess Celestia about it. I can't..."

She lowered herself to the floor, her eyes looking directly into Lyra's hooves. Tears overwhelmed her. "How could this happen? Why did this happen?! Why?"

Lyra crouched over, talking softly to the distressed mare. "Twilight, listen to me." The scholar didn't stop sobbing. "Twilight...". Spike stood by her side, touching carefully her face.

"Twilight?" asked the small dragon again, receiving no response from his caretaker. His tail dropped as he looked at her.

"Shush, Twilight. You've got me." Lyra smiled softly into Twilight's ear. The unicorn's ears perked up, but she was still shaken. Lyra caught her neck with her hooves and put her cheek against hers. ""I'm here, and there are many ponies around you. And Spike," she added when the baby dragon tapped the floor with his foot. The sobs stopped, but Twilight simply remained quiet, her face buried into Lyra's neck. The musician could feel the warm breath of her marefriend against her coat and her shallow breaths.

"It have been several years since I cried as much as I cried yesterday." Lyra spoked softly, caressing Twilight's mane with her hoof with slow movements. "I can't believe it as much as you do. I'm not sure what I want to do, really. I would perhaps just go out running crazy if you weren't here. So, if you decide to do something, I'll be right there with you."

Lyra felt a small smile tugging at her lips and the pression of a couple of hooves in her back.

Applejack felt her hooves trodding the path leading to her farm with heavy steps. The familiar warmth of the Ponyville sun fell upon her, making her body glow, but she felt none of the respite that usually came with it. The walk felt long and longer with each step she made forward, as if she was not getting any closer. The sight of familiar ponies walking around her made her uneasy, despite having known most of these ponies for her whole life, now she couldn't feel anything more than their piercing gazes upon her, and she remembered the night in which they had had to escape from the library in a haste and all the incidents that had transpired on her life. Her head was a jumble of emotions, and it wasn't helped at all by the visage of a certain pony appearing in her mind constantly.

She adjusted her hat once again and before she could realize it, her hooves had taken her to the main gate of Sweet Apple Acres. Pushing it open, she trotted towards the house, the soil below her hooves granting her a sense of familiarity for the first time since she had abandoned the library.

A yellow blur ran at full speed and crashed against her, sending her tumbling to the ground. A couple of small hooves held onto her with surprising strength.

"Ah missed you, Applejack! Why were ya gone all tha' time?"

Apple Bloom's teary eyes looked straight at her. Her face was humid both with sadness and relief.

"Ah'm home, Apple Bloom."

After getting the small filly off of her, only for her to run in circles around her asking all kinds of questions which Applejack held off, she approached the porch where her grandmother and older brother awaited. Both held calm expressions on their faces, Big Macintosh munching on a stick of hay.

"So yeh're back, hayseed."

Applejack couldn't answer, feeling repressed tears flowing down her face as she ran to where Granny Smith stood.

Bon Bon and Pinkie trotted by the road leading to Sweet Apple Acres, in a silence unusual for one walking next to Ponyville's professional party pony. She could not shake the feeling that everypony's gaze feel upon them, but when she turned to look back at Pinkie, the usually bubbly pony simply walked by her side, devoid of any of her usual jumpiness, and seemingly unaware of everything that was going on around her.

"Pinkie?" called out Bon Bon, softly, looking at her with concern. The pink pony turned to look at her.

"Yes, Bon?" answered the mare, in a shadow of her usual voice.

"Are you fine?"

Pinkie turned her attention back to the front, staying in silence for some moments. "I want to see the Cakes now, mostly. Maybe I'll get through to my parents, haven't seen them for a while," said Pinkie, seeing Sugarcube Corner materialize in front of her eyes. She stopped in front of the bakery. "I'll see you later, Bonnie."

The cream colored mare waved goodbye to her friend, seeing her disappear into the bakery, and she continued her walk towards her own home. Bon Bon opened the door to her house and upon entering, she found her stand lying against the wall opposite to the kitchen, with Lyra not having bothered to move it towards the storing room. She sighed and went into the kitchen, barely containing a scream. All around, different cooking utensils were scattered without any coherent order; at least she found them clean. The storage room was as much of a mess as the kitchen. Setting it aside, she climbed the stairs towards the second story. Ignoring Lyra's room and study, she looked inside the bathroom, only to find a quite large water pool lying on the floor. She closed the door rather violently and went over to her room.

Surprisingly she found her room in the very same organized state she had left it in; there were still slight patches on dust on the floor and furniture, but nothing that would require that much effort. She let out a relieved sigh, not having found the house as rundown as she had feared, and sat on top of her bed, looking out of the window towards the street.

Her thoughts then flashed towards her pink friend, and the expression her face held just before she had left at Sweet Apple Acres. The only other time she had seen Pinkie with a remotely similar expression had been on the aftermath of the cooking duel the pink earth pony had so foolishly set up. Not that Bon Bon could blame Pinkie for such a reaction this time. Suddenly, the cream colored mare found her own pillows and sheets very comfortable, lying on top of her bed and letting her mind wander over. She didn't even notice the moment in which she was snatched away to the clutches of deep slumber, in the middle of the morning, despite it not being into Bon Bon's usual routine.

The usual fluffiness and comfort clouds offered to her was of no help to Rainbow Dash this time. She first crashed onto her own house. The majestic pegasus construct was the same as always, but all she did was roll around while lying on her bed. She knew she'd have to report with the weather patrol sooner or later, but she wasn't feeling like that at all. After several minutes of tossing and moving, she rose with a grunt and sped out of her house, her wings beating hard against the wind. She flew far and away from Ponyville.

Tears flowed down both unicorn sisters' faces as they embraced each other.

"I'm sorry for having had to leave you so suddenly, Sweetie Belle. But I'm here right now."

"I didn't know what to do, Rarity! Miss Cherilee and Lyra and the Apples were there for me, but I missed you and mom and dad so much!" Rarity could feel her coat being soaked by Sweetie Belle's tears, but she did paid no mind to it then.

"Hush, Sweetie Belle. I'm here now, and our parents will be around soon as well." She patted the filly on the back tenderly, despite her own tears still flowing freely.

"Come on, darling, let us drink a cup of warm tea, it will help us calm down."

"Good morning, everybody. I'm sorry to have left you all alone for so much time." Even though Fluttershy said these words, her voice was barely a whisper carried by the wind, only picked up by most of the animals' excellent sense of hearing. Angel jumped in front of her and looked up to her questioningly. He was joined soon by Tank, Owlowiscious, Pee-Wee, Gummy and Opalescence.

"So you're all around here... I'm sorry, friends, but I don't want to be around here right now. Angel, can you look for them some more, please?"

Before the rabbit had even begun to answer her, Fluttershy soared upstairs to her room, locking the door behind her.

The last rays of sun were penetrating the library's windows as Twilight, Lyra and Spike were still organizing shelves. The musician had taken to read the books to alleviate her boredom, giving each other a brief look while skimming the ones she was more interested in, and before she knew the whole room had been littered with books. Twilight had given her a good, lenghty mouthful and then they had begin to work on replacing them, in which a good part of day was spent, and they still had too much to work on.

"The day is coming to a close, I think we can cal off for today. Let's clean and we'll eat out," said Twilight, while looking at the orange sky through the window. Spike and Lyra cheered loudly when there was a knock at the door.

"Who could be now? Stupid public library." Twilight trotted over to the door and opened it, to find three unicorns standing on the other side. Her jaw dropped.

"Mom, Dad? Shining? What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean what, Twilight? You forget about your family pretty easily, young lady," answered Stargazer Sparkle, Twilight's mother, with a stern look on her face.


	25. Breakdown

The alarm clock was swatted away by the grey hoof as lying the pegasus rolled around in her bed. Slowly, Derpy Hooves regained consciousness and her mouth stretched in a big yawn. She finally threw the covers off of her and got out of bed, stretching her wings and heading to the bathroom. The cold water splashed on her face helped her wake up further, and from the mirror that hung in front of her, a tired wall-eyed pegasus with a messy mane looked at her. She passed a hoof through her mane, frowning at herself. Shaking her head, she went to the shower.

Hot water ran down her body, warming her in the chilly hour before dawn and cleansing her. She basked in the comforting sensation before finally shutting the flow, picking the towel to dry herself vigorously. As she passed through the bathroom, she looked briefly at the mirror again, seeing a couple of wide open eyes which rolled in different directions, causing her to only be able to focus one. She turned her head and exited the bathroom, checking the hour on the alarm clock at the side of her bed: five and a quarter. Leaving her room, the pegasus walked to the door next to hers, knocking hard on it.

"Girls, wake up! You've gotta get ready!"

There was pure silence coming from the other side, and she sighed, before knocking even louder. "Sparkler! Dinky! Up and about!" She could then hear the creaking of a bed, and an annoyed grunt, before the sound of hooves hitting the ground, and then Sparkler's voice. "Coming, mom, chill down! Come on, Dinky..."

Derpy smiled, and turned to go to the kitchen. Derpy's house was a small one, compared to others in Ponyville. From the door, to the right, there was a small living room, followed by the kitchen that dubbed as dining room and a small bathroom used by Dinky, Sparkler and the rare visitor, which meant for the most part Whooves, Lyra, Bon Bon and Swift Stroke, her boss at the mail office. In the outside part of her bedroom's wall, there was hung a portrait of her whole family, or what used to be her whole family. She entered the kitchen, and began rummaging through the shelves; she selected a milk carton, a couple of bananas, a sweet mango, a box of cereal and a bag of oats, and began to peel and chop up the fruit as she heard the girls' door being opened.

"Mornin', mom!" called Dinky out with her squeaky, but still sleepy, voice.

"Mornin', muffin! Remember to wash yourself good, I'll check on you!" answered Derpy, before looking down and realizing she had cut the banana in very, very small cubes instead of slices. Letting out a big sigh, she poured it into a cup before continuing with the mango. Fortunately for her, the slip ups were very few, and soon she found herself with a dish of cereal with fruits for Dinky, and sliced fruit with oats for Sparkler and herself. She organized the table, setting up the plates, and within minutes, her younger daughter appeared, smiling widely at her. She received her daughter with an strong embrace.

"Well, let's see that..." Dinky nodded, and turned herself around to allow her mother to look at her. Derpy focused as well as he could, checking her daughter. After a minute, she nodded. "Well done, muffin. Now go and pick up your school stuff."

Dinky hurried out of the kitchen, and Derpy began to clean the counter with a rag. She was midway through it, when the small filly ran to the living room with a saddle in her mouth and Sparkler entered the kitchen. "Hi, mom."

"Hello, Sparks. Breakfast's ready. Let's sit down."

Both ponies sat down, followed by Dinky who entered the room and climbed to her seat.

"Thank you, mom!" cried Dinky, followed by her sister, and Derpy smiled. "You're welcome, girls."

For Derpy Hooves, this was one of the most special moments of her routinary days, as she spent it chatting with her daughters and bonding with them before going out to another tough day of work. And so her smile faltered briefly when she found herself at the table, Dinky and Sparkler both having left to school. She picked up the dishes and washed them, before heading to her room again. She checked a list fastened to the back of the door, containing her work for the day. She picked up a blue mailmare hat from her closet, along with her old, brown saddlebags, and headed out, towards the post office.

Twilight blinked, before catching herself, and heading forward to hug her mother, burying her face into the older mare's mane. "I'm glad to see you all..."

"I know, my darling. How about we go inside, yes?"

The young unicorn separated herself from her mother, and nodded, her eyes watery. She led her parents and brother inside, where the elder mare found herself tackled again by a green and purple blur. She looked down, smiling.

"Hello, Spike, how have you been doing?"

"I've been fine, Mom! I've missed you so much, we haven't had much time to talk..."

"I know, dear, that's why we're here."

Her father and Shining looked around the library. The dark blue stallion let out a whistle, his golden eyes scanning the shelves around them, as did his son.

"This is one fine library for a small town like this, Twilight."

Twilight turned to her father and smiled. "I know, dad. But hardly anypony comes over here, except foals looking for school assignments and the casual reader. I'm already accustomed to it, though."

"Still, I wonder who would have the idea to set up such an well equipped library. And carving out a tree in such a way that it is still living. Do you know something about who created this library or its owner, Twilight?"

Twilight looked at her father, her mouth wide open along with her eyes. She imitated her father and looked around the library, taking in the structure of the tree for the first time. She of course had noticed the sheen of the leaves and the life of the tree before, but for some reason had never even thought about it, and it had been her home for quite a while now. She had never seen in any book something pertaining to magic that allowed one to carve a house out of a tree. In Ponyville, and in what she knew of Equestria, buildings were constructed with very traditional methods, even when aided by magic...

"Twily!"

She was snapped out of her thoughts by her brother's voice calling out to her rather loudly. She shook her head and looked at him, questioningly.

"Never change, sis. Hey, we were just wondering, what was Lyra Hearstrings doing here, so quiet?"

Twilight turned to where his brother was pointing at and found Lyra smiling at them, but in a manner that was almost mechanical; the forced smile could be detected from leagues afar. Twilight's father smiled.

"Oh, you're the famous lyre player, aren't you? I'd never had imagined you'd come from Ponyville, with the metropolitan air you give off. I once went to a concert you gave in Canterlot with my wife; she's here. By the way, my name is Nachlicht, yes, don't laugh, my father was obsessed with Germane culture, and this is my wife, Stargazer Sparkle. And of course, you already know Shining, don't you?"

Twilight's mother walked over to her father, standing by his side and smiling to the musician, whose face now sported a more genuine smile.

"Thank you for your kind comments," said Lyra, approaching them to shake their hooves.

"Think nothing of it, girl. Are you a friend of Twilight, then?" asked Nachlicht, with a friendly smile. The smile on Lyra's face dropped again, and she turned to look at Twilight, a sweat drop falling across her face. Stargazer noted this and approached Lyra with a concerned expression.

"Lyra, darling, are you ok?"

The addressed mare sweated even more, her eyes avoiding those of Twilight's parents. Stargazer, Nachlicht and Shining Armor looked at her curiously and with concern. Shining walked over to her sister and whispered to her. "Is everything right with her, Twily?"

Twilight threw a look over to Lyra and then looked back at her brother. "I don't know, she had never acted like this before."

She walked over to Lyra and touched her neck very gently. "Is everything fine, Lyra?"

The green unicorn turned to look at her, and coughed before answering.

"Yes, yes. I'm sorry... May you excuse me? I'll come back later, Twilight..." She walked out of the library without waiting for any answer, her exit made evident by the sound of the door hitting hard its frame when closing. They all, including Spike, looked at the door, before Stargazer looked at her daughter with a frown on her face, her right eyebrow lifted questioningly.

"What was all that about, Twilight? We didn't say or do anything bad to her..."

"I don't know anything about that... I'll have to ask her about it, she talked to me about her parents once, but now I think we've never talked about you..." She lifted her head from her thinking to find the three unicorns looking at her; her mother's eyebrow was even more raised than before, almost floating, for a very comical effect. Twilight looked at them, her tail flicking from one side to the other.

"There's another thing I haven't told you about... Lyra Heartstrings is my marefriend."

The grey pegasus trotted through Ponyville, her saddles almost half empty, the sun climbing almost to its zenith. Even though the town was nowhere near the size of the big cities, making deliveries across it was still a huge job; fortunately, the deliveries were organized by sections, with addresses being close to each other in a certain order, beginning near the office. She had already done her round uppertown, and was now a block away from the park, going for the other half, when she saw Lyra Heartstrings running across the street. She looked as the unicorn dashed through, following her with a focused eye; she wasn't paying attention to anything or anypony and instead went up to the park, where Derpy saw her disappearing to the left, concluding she was headed towards home. She looked back to where Lyra had come from.

"The library's over there. Did something happen?"

Derpy's feet almost turned back to follow the musician, but she shook her head and continued on her route, marking in her head to visit her friend later.

Derpy crossed the entrance to the post office with a slow trot, her saddlebags lying flat on her flanks, empty of all the letter and packages she carried during her shift, with only the delivery receipts on it. She walked towards a large blue counter going almost from wall to wall of the main room, functioning as service desk, behind which stood an earth pony mare with a dark yellow coat, green apple colored eyes and a grey mane and coat, with a stamp as cutie mark; behind her could be seen mountains of envelopes and packages in two. Dry Drop was the mare in charge of sorting the entering mail and deliveries, ordering them and passing them to their assigned delivery ponies, and she did an excellent job at it, making sure the routes were easy to follow. She waved a forehoof as she said Derpy approaching, and the pegasus responded in earnest.

"Hi, Dry! Had a nice morning?" asked Derpy as she made her way to the counter. The other mare shrugged.

"There's been a heavy load today, I'm halfway done sorting...

Derpy smiled again at her. "Well, good luck, girl. I'll be sure to bring you muffins when I prepare." She pulled out the signed receipts, putting them on top of the counter. Dry Drop checked them with evident skill, passing the sheets quickly. After finishing, she clipped them together and stamped a red seal on it.

"Good job, Derpy. I'll see you later."

"Later, Dry! Good luck!"

She exited the office again to find herself in the busy streets of Ponyville at noon. School wouldn't be over until another couple of hours and so she headed home to prepare lunch. A quick and delicious soup was all they would need. On the way back, she bought a loaf of fresh bread, her mouth already salivating. A block before her house, she looked towards Lyra's house, and saw Bon Bon standing in front of her home, with her usual display of desserts, selling to a pony who went away as Derpy approached her.

"Hello, Bon Bon." The earth pony turned towards her and smiled softly.

"Good morning, Derpy. How are you?" The pegasus stopped in front of the counter, and the smell of the freshly baked confections invaded her nostrils as well as the music her ears were now registering, the slow playing of a harmonious lyre, which was everywhere around her; she looked down and saw puffy cupcakes calling out to her.

"I'm fine as well. And how about you? These cupcakes smell great!"

"Thank you, Derpy. I'm experimenting, these are orange flavored cupcakes."

Derpy pulled out a couple of bits from her saddlebags and passed them to Bon Bon. "I'll try one and may buy more later, if there are any left," said Derpy, bringing a wider smile to Bon Bon's face.

"Hey, Bon Bon. I saw Lyra running around madly earlier. Is she fine?"

Bon Bon's smile diminished and she threw a quick glance behind her. "I don't know, Derpy, but always that she feels troubled, she spends quite some time with her music before coming out and talking to me. I'll figure it out later."

Derpy considered this, and nodded. "Ok. Can I drop by later, then?"

"Sure, we'll be waiting for you."

"Thanks, Bon Bon." She bid farewell to the earth pony and continued her route, the notes from the lyre resounding on her head.

She arrived home at last, leaving the bread on top of the kitchen counter and her saddlebags on her bedroom. Forty five minutes later, the smell of a delicious vegetable soup came from the pot on top of the stove, filling the pegasus' nostrils. She enjoyed it, turning off the stove and pouring some soup for herself, leaving it to cool while she organized her bedroom. After finishing, she picked up a sheet from the table next to her desk, checking it; that list contained the extra jobs Derpy picked up along, such as helping with a moving, that had somehow ended up with a piano falling on top of Twilight Sparkle. Derpy still wondered how that mare had survived. She left the document in its place and went back to the kitchen to take lunch.

A strand of hair from Twilight's mane was swept by a passing breeze, causing it to block the young unicorn's view before she brushed it aside, and then turned around, looking for the source of a wind current in a closed space. Finding nothing, she turned back to look at her family. She was concentrated on her parents, failing to notice a shine passing across her brother's eyes. Her mother raised a hoof, taking it to her mouth, coughing affectedly into it.

"It is true, Twilight? Why didn't you say anything of the sort to us until now? It's not something to be taken lightly, after all."

As Twilight opened her mouth to answer her mother's question, the very same hoof interrupted her. "As much as I'd like to know about it, we'll save that for later. We're here because of another cause, Twilight." The younger mare closed her mouth slowly, tilting her head to the side, inquiringly.

"Your brother told us about the events that unfurled at the castle yesterday, which he was told about by Princess Celestia herself, when he inquired about you. Normally that would be a great state secret, but as it involved you, we were trusted about it."

The confusion on Twilight's face faded, to be replaced by the shadow that had been covering it after the truth of Albert's fate had been revealed to her. She had sought to chase away the thought that hammered the back of her brain, which returned with all its might after her mother's words. She felt her eyes turning watery, without being able to stop it, as her tears overflowed.

She felt ridiculous, letting her emotions take over her once again, but a voice inside of her, which she wasn't sure about whether it belonged to her reason or to her heart, told her that it was natural for such a thing to happen; a wound would not close in a simple day, even much easier as another distraught thought entered her mind, with the flash of a certain soft green and white unicorn running away from her suddenly appearing. She then felt another pair of hooves holding her, looking up to find her mother with a calm, soothing smile looking at her. Still Twilight let the river of her turmoil take over her, until the flow stopped, and she felt her eyes dry and heavy, and tasted the salt of her own tears on her lips, between sobs and hiccups.

"I can't understand this, mom, no matter how many times I process it in my head... And why did Lyra run?"

"Hush, Twilight. Taking in so many things at once will lead you nowhere. I think it's best if we go solving this step by step, don't you agree?"

Twilight nodded slowly, still sobbing. Her mother cleaned up her tears and looked towards Spike. "Spike, I think a good warm tea would help us very much right now. How about you prepare it, please?"

Spike rushed towards the kitchen, and Stargazer led Twilight towards one of the chairs around a table, with Nachlicht and Shining sitting next to them.


	26. Reflecting

The three unicorns listened attentively as Twilight told them all about her experience with the human teenager, and the incidents that had transpired recently; while her parents' faces remained unchanged through her monologue, Shining's right eyebrow seemed to lift higher as she spoke. Soon, the smell of lemon inundated their nostrils as Spike brought over to the table a set of teacups, placing them on the table, along with some slices of different fruits. Shining and Nachlicht pointedly ignored the beverage, focusing on Twilight's words, but Stargazer reached for her cup employing a magic colored similarly to that of her daughter; she took a sip from it, her light blue eyes tearing into her daughter's.

The younger unicorn paused her speech as well to lift her cup up and drink from it, savouring the familiar taste of Spike's brew, inherited from her own mother. The warmth colored her cheeks and a sense of relaxation filled her.

"I had forgotten about how much this tea helps me. The last days have been quite hectic..." She stared into the cup, with a pensive reflection giving the gaze back from the reddish liquid.

"I would have liked to meet this human face to face. It's not all the time that one meets with mystic creatures from ancient Equestrian legends." Nachlicht drank from his own cup, pouring its content down before looking at his daughter. "Except when it's about you and your friends, it seems." He smirked, reaching over to grab a slice of red apple and biting it. "You lead a pretty interesting life, Twilight."

She remained silent, still gazing into the tea. Stargazer walked around the table and stood next to her, looking into her daughter, and crossing a white hoof across her neck, pulling Twilight closer to her. The young unicorn closed her eyes, enjoying the warm feeling of resting near her mother's chest. Stargazer slowly caressed Twilight's mane with a hoof, which brought Twilight to an even more relaxed state.

Stargazer whispered softly into her daughter's ear, which perked up when listening to her. "Sleep now, Twilight, you'll need it. Tomorrow we can discuss things better..." Soon the younger unicorn had fallen asleep, her chest moving slowly, her face locked into a calmer expression. Stargazer turned towards her husband.

"It's about time we got some rest ourselves as well. It has been quite a long day. Give me a hoof, please."

Nachlicht nodded, rising from his chair to help his wife carry their daughter towards her room.

Spike was on the verge of sleeping, when a white hoof pushed him. He shook his head and turned to find Shining Armor smirking at him. The stallion patted him on the chest, almost sending him rolling to the floor, if Shining hadn't contained his strength; he bowed his head in apology and then looked around.

"Hold out a bit, Spike, I need to know where are the sleeping implements. You know, pillows and all that. Got to get something prepared for us, don't you think?"

The dragon waved a claw weakly, his eyelids only half open, as he walked lazily towards the stairs, with the guard captain behind him. "Whatever." Opening a door in the book depository, he pulled out sheets, pillows, and cushions for them to arrange bed in the spare room the library had, a quite small but sufficient room for the three to stay overnight.

"Welcome back, Pinkie!" called out Mr. Cake, cheerfully, upon seeing the pink mare entering the business. "We were getting so worried, it's good to see y-" The Cake patriarch finally lifted his head from the counter when he received no response from his usually talkative assistant and let out a gasp. Pinkie's hair felt flat by her sides, all her puffiness completely gone; her eyes lacked the lively shine they constantly had, and her walk was slow and lifeless. He crossed the counter, small Pound clinging happily to his back and walked next to the young baker.

"Pinkie, what's the matter?"

The younger earth pony finally seemed to register her mentor's voice, turning her head to look at Mr. Cake. The stallion felt how her eyes looked through him, not really registering his presence more than on a basic level; the only thing that could be heard on the currently empty room was the sound of Pound's pacifier being sucked on. She turned her gaze away and walked around the counter, without minding the two pairs of eyes following her upstairs, until her door was closed behind her.

The doorbell rang in that same instant, forcing him to attend to a few customers arriving. His wife soon came out from the kitchen, covered in flour, and sighed.

"We need Pinkie to come back, I don't know how much I can handle this anymore..."

Mr. Cake finished ringing the last pony, and then turned back to his wife, pointing towards the stairs. "She just came back, but she doesn't look too good. Her hair was flat and she didn't even answer to me when I called out to her, instead going straight up to her room." Mrs. Cake then looked towards the stairs and back to her husband.

"Let me go after it. Take care of the shop some more, I already prepared the confections."

He nodded, sighing, turning his attention back to the shop. Pound flipped his wings and flew over to his mother's back, who turned to look at him and smiled. "Pinkie will be happy to see you, young boy. Too bad your sister's sleeping."

Reaching Pinkie's door, Mrs. Cake knocked on it thrice, receiving no answer. She called once again. "Pinkie, darling? What's the matter?" After some more moments of waiting, she slowly opened the door, finding Pinkie lying with her back facing the door, splayed on her bed wth her hind legs crossed one on top of the other. Muffled sobs arrived to Mrs. Cake's ears. She made her way to Pinkie's bed and put a hoof on top of her shoulder, feeling Pinkie breathing hard throughout the sobbing.

"What happened, darling?" asked the elder mare in her motherly voice. Pinkie slowly turned back to look at her boss, mentor and caretaker, her eyes red and her nose runny, blowing it in a manner that was almost comical; Cup Cake noted how Pinkie could never stop being a fountain of fun, even if she didn't feel like that.

"I can't tell you..." was Pinkie's answer, with a hoarse voice, as she coughed. The tears still flowed copiously and she hiccuped. "Only that Albert is not coming back. That's all I can say."

Mrs. Cake scrutinized Pinkie, her eyebrows rose, marking a perplexed expression in her face. "He's not... coming back? Why, dear?"

Pinkie opened her mouth, but nothing came out of it. She swallowed, an acrid taste filling her throat and the salty taste of tears flowing into her mouth, though the stream coming from her eyes had thinned. "He... died," answered simply the pink mare. Mrs Cake let out a quick gasp.

She closed her mouth and threw a questioning look towards her assistant. "You're telling the truth, Pinkie?" The pink mare slowly nodded silently.

"But how? Why? She pulled closer to Pinkie, their muzzles almost touching. The younger mare shook her head.

"I think I shouldn't tell you. I'm sorry, Mrs. Cake..."

A flash of anger crossed Mrs. Cake face, reflecting in her voice, calling towards Pinkie with a gruff tone. "Pinkie, this is serious."

The pink mare didn't move an inch or bat an eye. "I know, Mrs. Cake, but I can't tell you."

Mrs. Cake snorted, stomping her hoof on the floor. "As you wish." She turned back and left the room, shutting the door behind her, which closed with a loued thump. Pinkie looked at the wooden door before turning back to stare at the wall. She didn't even turn back to see when, some time later, knocks at her door were heard again, and Mr. Cake's voice called for her from the outside for a good while before finally retreating.

She wasn't even sure what time it was when sleep claimed her, not having moved from her spot at all.

The first minutes of the evening saw the door of Fluttershy's room opening. The pegasus herself came out, appearing rather unkempt. Her mane was dishevelled, her eyes were red and puffy and had black bags underneath and her feathers were in urgent need of a preening. When she felt a pull at her foreleg, she looked down to find Angel looking up at her. He tapped his foot against the floor and looked at her with a expression that somehow mixed worry and annoyance. She gave a soft smile to him.

"I'm sorry, Angel... I'll get to work right now and give all of you a good meal. You deserve it, after these days of loneliness. Don't worry about me."

The shy pegasus trotted towards her cupboards, opening them to look for her animal friends' meals, while humming quietly to herself. A squirrel stood by her side, its little eyes focused intently on her. She turned her attention to her little friend, dedicating a smile to it. "Thank you for your concern, little buddy. I'm fine, though, you don't need to worry." Looking around in the cupboard, she took out a couple of nuts, delivering them to the squirrel, which took them in its paws, threw her a long look which she returned and finally turned its back to her, rising its brown fluffy tail and scurrying out of the house. Fluttershy continued pulling out food, while whistling her song to herself.

After opening her eyes, she found herself in her own room, with her sister clinging to her. Rarity rejoiced in the feeling of Sweetie Belle's soft coat rubbing against her own. The small filly had her eyes closed and her body pressed against Rarity's own, which the older sister at first thought of protesting about, but thought better of it, letting herself enjoy her sister's affection, a small smile tugging at her lips. The feeling of Sweetie's chest slowly going up and down and her calm heartbeats put her at ease. She couldn't believe this was the same filly that drove her almost to despair most of the time with her continuous escapades. A stray thought concerning Sweetie Belle crossed her mind, which she almost vocalized, but chose not to, so as to maintain the same level of closeness and peace for a while longer.

After having finished her tea meeting with her sister, the small unicorn had clung out to her, refusing to go anywhere without her. After an almost argument, only avoided due to both ponies' refusal to fight each other, Rarity relented and allowed Sweetie Belle to skip school on the grounds that she would bring herself up to date with lessons and homework and to not pull it off ever again, to which the filly enthusiastically agreed. Rarity still had a great distaste for it, but she enjoyed her sister's presence, as their parents were away yet again.

Separating herself from her sister, who moved around nervously, but did not wake up, she pulled herself out of bed; it called back to her, giving her a great temptation of just sliding back into it and never coming out again, but she knew it wouldn't be healthy. She stood in front of the mirror hanging in her own room, picking a brush with her magic and working in her mane, styling it carefully until recovering her own style and giving her coat a brushing until she was satisfied with the results.

She exited her room, entering the workshop, where everything still was in the same state of disarray she had left it in, having been unable to put it in order before her sudden departure. Her eyes were instantly drawn to some pieces of cloth that were cut in a way unbefitting for a pony, lying on a nearby table. She bit her lip, feeling the moisture building into her eyes, and fought it off, picking up the unfinished dress and disposing of it, despite her usual reluctance to do that with perfectly good clothes. Deciding she needed some more tea, she walked into her kitchen.

"We're havin' none o' that, little missy! Git goin' now! Ah'll talk to you later!"

Apple Bloom pouted, but Applejack had already been desensitized towards her sister's angelic faces and the filly had soon packed up her things and left for school, not without another hug between the sisters. Once the younger sister had disappeared across the hill she turned her attention back to the orchards in which her big brother had had to work almost alone for the last few days, only with some assistance of Caramel as a relief. Applejack felt inside herself the reluctance to work, but shook it aside and trotted towards a section of the field, in which her brother had already set bushels next to the trees.

Approaching one, she put herself into position, and then raised both her legs to give a powerful kick to the trunk. The usual sound of apples falling into the bushels didn't register in her ears though, and she looked at the containers to find them effectively empty. She bucked the tree once again, being rewarded by the sound of apples falling, but when she turned back, finding that not even half the bushel had been filled. She lashed at the three with her legs, still not achieving anything.

"Y'all be going to rip off the tree if ya keep on, sis," said Big Macintosh, eyeing the bark that had been peeled off from the tree by Applejack's careless kicks. She glared at him and snorted.

"What Ah'm supposed to do, then?" screamed Applejack at her sibling, who looked at her with wide eyes, before going back to his relaxed stance.

"Whoa, easy there, gal. Ah can tell yeh're shaken up, Applejack, and yeh're not gonna get anythin' done like that."

Applejack snorted, fixing her eyes on her brother's. "Y'all know very well the farm can't go on with just you."

He nodded. "Eeyup. But it's not going to go anywhere either if you're not at the top of your game. Get some more days, I'll get Caramel around to help, and call family if it's necessary. A couple of cousins owe me one favor or two."

Applejac opened her mouth to answer him, but found herself blocked by his big, red hoof. He looked seriously at her. "Eenope."

She sat on her haunches, her eyes unfocused, her Stetson being blown off her head by a gust of wind.

Lyra let out a relieved cheer when Twilight declared cleaning was over for the day. However, there was a knock at the library's door, just when Twilight was proposing for them to go out. Twilight went to open it reluctantly, changing her expression when she saw the three unicorns standing on the other side, one of which Lyra recognized as Twilight's older brother, the new Equestrian Prince. She heard Twilight referring to the other two as her parents, and a drop of sweat cold feel down her forehead. She fell silent.

Lyra observed the family, including Spike, having an animated talk in silence, while trying to drown the voices on the back of her mind, voices that had not manifested themselves for quite a while. She didn't register Shining and Nachlicht gazing upon her with curiosity; only the sweat building constantly on her coat. She forced a smile to her lips, the whole family looking at her now. She was soon surrounded by the family, who had recognized her from her presentations, and forced herself to adopt a friendlier stance towards them, despite her inner state.

Lyra caught Twilight's father's words in the air, just getting the final question. "... Are you a friend of Twilight, then?" She turned to look at her marefriend, her mind unable to settle between shock and relief from the fact Twilight had not spoken about her to her parents. She locked herself inside until feeling Twilight touching her neck. Looking straight into Twilight eyes, she affected a cough.

"Yes, yes. I'm sorry... May you excuse me? I'll come back later, Twilight..." She walked out of the building before somepony or dragon could answer back to her, being received by the chilly air of the night. Her stomach rumbled; she decided to buy some pastries at Sugarcube Corner before heading home.

No lights were on in the first floor, so she opened the door and set her horn alight, using the gleaming to guide herself through the dark corridor. She went up slowly and quietly, heading to her room. She put aside the bag containing what she had brought for Bon Bon and went to the bathroom to clean herself up, before getting into bed. It would be long before she fell asleep, with her mind plagued by a multitude of thoughts and memories, which continued into her dreams. She tossed and turned in her bed the whole night. She finally opened her eyes, immediately sprung from her bed and washed her face in the bathroom. Bon Bon's steps could be heard in the first floor, but she went to her room, pulling out the box below her bed, and levitated it to her study, locking the door behind her.

She put the box on top of the desk and opened it, taking out a couple of letters to read, charming a candle into life. Her eyes scanned the words that she had memorized anyway, being written by herself and read once and once again for years. She put the letters down and wondered about how Twilight would be thinking of her. Locking the letters away in the box, she levitated her lyre over and began pulling at the strings, closing her eyes. The hours passed as she just concentrated in the music.


	27. Overcoming

Shining Armor trotted over to the door and opened it, finding Applejack on the other side. He smiled upon seeing her; the farm pony blinked and then shared the smile with him. Shining lifted a hoof which she bumped into.

"Good to see you, Sugarcube. What are ya doin' all the way here in Ponyville?"

The smile vanished slowly from Shining's face. "Well, my mom and dad and I came down to see Twilight and how she was doing. I had to tell them about the situation."

Applejack's smile was gone as well. "True. Ah was comin' to see if ah' could get a hang on Twilight, but ah' suppose she's still in bed. "

Shining nodded. "Yeah, I'm accustomed to rising early since my days in the military academy, but they're all typical unicorns. You can come in if you'd like, though. Have you already had breakfast?"

He stepped aside to let Applejack in. "Yeah, ah' grabbed some before comin' here, don't ya worry about me. Ah'll accept yer invitation, plum thankful about it." Shining closed the door behind them and Spike appeared from the stairs, not bothering to cover a big yawn. He looked towards them.

"Oh, it's you who've been doing the racket. Hi, Applejack, what're you doing here?"

"Just out fer a bit, Spike. Needed some fresh air... outside the farm."

"Ok, feel free to relax around, I'm taking a look at Peewee." He walked away. Shining turned to her.

"Would you at least like some tea? I feel like having a cup myself."

"Sounds about right. Thanks, Shinin'." The unicorn nodded and left for the kitchen. Applejack looked around, finally registering the fact that she had come to the library. Despite her reservations, her eyes were glued over towards the place where Albert's statue had stood for quite a while, not very far from the place where he had been sitting around discussing with them. Her gaze then shifted to one of the windows, where the streets of Ponyville, peaceful that early in the morning, could be seen; streets he had walked around with his own two feet. Applejack lifted her hoof and lowered her hat to cover her eyes, closing them.

Shining's voice called out from the kitchen. "Applejack? The tea's done already, come on." She took a deep breath in, heading to the kitchen, where Shining and Spike were sitting around the table. The powerful scent of the green tea filled her nostrils. She sat down next to Shining, in front of a steaming cup.

"There's honey over there," said Spike, pointing to a crystal jar in the other side of the table. Applejack reached for it and let some honey fall down into her cup, passing the jar around. Hoofsteps were heard out of the kitchen and some instants later, Nachlicht and Stargazer entered it, with obvious signs of having just recently woken up. Their gaze went straight to Applejack, and they offered her a warm smile. Stargazer trotted up to her and embraced her.

"Are you fine, dear?" The unicorn looked at her with concern, and Applejack returned the gaze, letting out a sigh.

"No, ma'am, ah'm not fine. Ah'm terribly confused, as ah' know all of us are... Ah came ta see if Twilight was around, but Ah can guess she's gone down again. Ah'll better return later, seein' as how y'all are with her."

Before she could move, a couple of white hooves restrained her, and now Stargazer had a serious look on her face. "None of that, AJ. I can see you need it as much, seeing as you came here. So you can join us in breakfast and we'll talk a little. After all, I don't really know much about you or the other girls, barring the special occasions in which we've met. It's that fine with you?"

"Y-yes," answered nervously the earth pony. Stargazer smiled again, bringing Applejack for a hug with her hooves.

"That's great, dear. Now, would you mind helping me prepare breakfast? I guess you'd like something to help take your mind off things for a while."

Applejack nodded. "That sounds good, Ms. Sparkle."

Stargazer turned to look at the cabinets. "Spike, be a good boy and help me out here, please."

As both scrambled to follow Stargazer's indications, Twilight came out of her bedroom and went downstairs, joining the others.

"Good morning, everybody."

"Mornin', Twilight," answered Applejack, while batting pancake mixture.

"Hey, Applejack, aren't you working?" asked Twilight, looking at her friend. A gleam crossed Applejack's eyes, which didn't go unnoticed by the unicorn.

"Ah didn't really had it on me to work today," said the earth pony, passing the bowl to Stargazer, who began pouring it into a pan.

"Well, thanks for coming, it's nice to have you here." Twilight nuzzled her friend's cheek, smiling, which brought Applejack's face a grin as well.

"Twilight, please put some plates in the counter."

Twilight complied. The kitchen boiled with life as everyone present went for a task, until the breakfast was served again and all were sitting around the table, including Applejack, whose appetite had been awoken once again by the smell of pancakes with honey and hay bacon.

Stargazer closed her eyes, following her well established routine. "We thank Celestia for this meal we're going to enjoy..."

Twilight, Applejack and Spike shuddered involuntarily. Shining Armor looked towards them while Nachlicht threw a look towards his wife. The older mare opened her mouth, but didn't say anything. The sound of forks scraping against plates resounded across the kitchen, except for Twilight and Applejack, who were having small, slow bites.

"Listen, girls, I'm sorry."

"It's ok, mom. It's not your fault. There's just so much to take in."

"I think you should go to Canterlot," interjected Nachlicht. Twilight and Applejack turned to look at him, as well as Spike and Shining Armor. Stargazer, however, nodded.

"I believe your father is right, Twilight. You should put this to rest already. There is nothing good in you tormenting yourself over it. At least you should try to speak is over."

"...Yes, I will do that. I'd like to talk to Lyra, but I think I have to sort this out first," said Twilight, after rushing through her thoughts, shaking her head to look at her parents. "Can I go back to Canterlot with you?"

"Of course, Twilight. We'll part in the evening, so I suggest you get prepared."

"Can ah' go too?" asked Applejack. All the faces turned around to look at her.

Bon Bon looked around, as she stood behind the counter, having already cleaned the house and prepared breakfast. She remembered hearing Lyra's playing well into the night, but hadn't disturbed the unicorn, instead going back to sleep. Since she had woken up, every second seemed to run slowly, even taking into account all the things she had occupied herself with. Her eyes scanned the street in front of her, where ponies crossed from both sides and she made some sales without really registering what she was doing. She glanced up at the sky, twisting her head to the sun rising at the east; it was about nine in the morning and was a time where usually a certain pink mare would pull a brief visit. Bon Bon couldn't see even a trace of the lively mare, though. She pressed her head against the counter, mindful not to break the crystal, and looked forward, without really seeing anything.

She rose and pushed the counter into the house once again. Seeking a sheet of paper and a pen, she left a note for Lyra on the kitchen table and exited the house. She trotted swiftly, surprising herself when her hooves left her standing in front of Sugarcube Corner. She pushed the business' door open, the bell ringing all the way into her brain. She shook her head and trotted in, where a small line of ponies were already in line. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were hard at work behind the counter, while Pound and Pumpkin's crib stood next to the cash, the twins following all the activity with interest.

Bon Bon made her way to the front of the counter, addressing Mr. Cake.

"Good morning, Mr. Cake. Is Pinkie here?" Bon Bon said, hurriedly. The stallion pointed with a hoof upstairs, behind the bar; he motioned with the same hoof for Bon Bon to go on, without stopping his work. She lifted the table that separated the front of the shop from the back and crossed it, waving to Mrs. Cake as the older mare carried a tray with cookies from the kitchen. She continued, climbing the stairs and finding herself in front of Pinkie's room. Lifting a hoof, she knocked.

"Pinkie?"

When an answer failed to come, Bon Bon simply pushed the door and entered the room, darkened by the drapes. Pinkie lay on the bed; her mane and tail were as puffy as ever, but her breathing was shallow and almost unnoticeable. Bon Bon left the door opened and walked towards the other pony.

"Pinkie...," called Bon Bon with a soft voice. Pinkie Pie slowly turned over herself to look at Bon Bon. She looked almost entirely the same, without any trace of tears on her face, but her blue eyes lacked any shine on them. She only looked at Bon Bon, a hoof falling on the border of the bed.

Bon Bon didn't say anything, she just sat on the border of the bed and took Pinkie's hoof on her own, pressing it against her. Her tail flicked to the other side, touching Pinkie, and she looked to the pink pony again. Pinkie moved aside on the bed and Bon Bon made to lie on it, embracing the other earth pony. Both mares simply laid there, on the other's hooves.

The bouncing Sweetie Belle woke Rarity up. The older unicorn groaned as she opened her eyes and stretched her hooves. She felt her eyes wet and wiped the tears with her hoof, feeling more tears dried down on her cheeks, and the wetness of the pillow in which her head rested. She looked down to find her sister beaming at her. Despite her own inner state, she flashed a light smile to the filly and pushed the sheets aside, leaving the bed, even though she felt like never coming out of it again.

"Good morning, Sweetie Belle." Her voice still came out sleepy and somewhat raspy. She cleared her throat.

"Sis, are you fine?" asked the small unicorn, looking up to Rarity. The older unicorn looked down to the filly, who stood by her side.

"I am fine, Sweetie," lied Rarity. "Just let me wash and we'll think about what to do." Sweetie Belle nodded, trotting out of the room while Rarity entered her personal bathroom. Her tear soaked eyes and stained coat were reflected in the mirror, with her mane falling to her shoulders. She splashed herself with water, blinking to wake herself up. She picked up her mane brush and slowly stylized her mane, her eyes always fixed on the view from the mirror. Despite the grooming, as meticulous as she ever did it, the expression that was thrown back at her from the mirror did not have any radiance, or glamour that she could feel. The process was only mechanical for her.

"Rarity!" called Sweetie Belle's voice from the main Boutique. She dropped the brush once again, giving one last look at her reflection.

"I'm coming, Sweetie!"

Derpy stared at the envelope she had pulled out of her bag. It was addressed to Lyra by one Stage Lights. The pegasus grinned and held it in her mouth, approaching Lyra and Bon Bon's house. She turned around and noticed the familiar house, which at that hour should have been open with Bon Bon attending her stand, but no such stand stood before the door which was closed. The grin on her face disappeared as she got closer and gave a look at the house. She would usually leave the letter right on the mailbox, but she had purposefully left Lyra's letter for last so she could go and talk to her friends. Lifting her hoof, she knocked on the door.

Lyra stirred as the knocking turned louder. She felt heavy and uncomfortable, and when she tried to lift her head, she discovered her left cheek was adhered to something. She had fallen asleep on her desk in the music room again. With some effort she broke apart from it, finally opening her eyes. The knock kept on and, with some difficulty, she made it to the window to look down and see Derpy waiting outside.

"Hey, Derpy!" The pegasus looked up and waved at her. She waved back.

"I'll be down in a minute!" Derpy nodded, sitting down on her haunches. Lyra turned from the window and exited the room, going to the bathroom to clean herself. She looked at Bon Bon's door closed and the fact that Derpy had been knocking with nopony to attend her finally hit her. She felt her stomach rumbling, but ignored it and trotted downstairs to open the door.

"Hey, Derpy, come in! Do you want something to eat? I'm starving!" Derpy entered, smiling.

"Sounds good, Lyra. Thank you!"

Both ponies entered the kitchen, where Lyra discovered Bon Bon had left behind enough sliced fruit on a plate that they both could eat. She silently thanked her best friend and pulled out another plate to divide the fruit between them both. Derpy thanked her, and before setting down to eat, delivered the letter. Lyra looked at it, then pushed it aside.

"Thank you, Derpy, I'll look at it later."

Derpy focused her gaze on her unicorn friend as much as she could. "What happened, Lyra?"

Lyra stopped eating, looking at the pieces of fruit on the plate before looking up at her friend, biting her lower lip. "I don't know if I should be talking about this."

"Of course you should," said Derpy, firm and clear. "You shouldn't have anything eating at you. Anything at all. Maybe you don't want to talk about it right now, or maybe I'm not the pony whom you should be talking about it with, but you need to do it. I also felt it in Bon Bon, even though she tried to act normal."

Derpy's expression softened. "I liked talking to you, Lyra, and it helped me a lot, even if you wouldn't believe it. I know it'll be the same for you, so please don't bring yourself down in such a silly way, would you?"

Despite herself, Lyra felt the tears beginning to trickle down her face, clouding her vision as she sobbed. Derpy walked around the table and put a hoof across the weeping mare's back.

"I'm here, Lyra."

Applejack trotted the path leading to Twilight's library, carrying a lightly packed saddlebag on her back. She had gone back to her home to ask her family permission about the travel to Canterlot after apologizing for not being helpful in the farm and they let her go. She opened the door of the library to find the Sparkle family waiting for her on the main room. Twilight had instructed for their pets to make their way towards Fluttershy's cottage, knowing she would take care of them.

Twilight and Applejack had discussed calling their other friends over to make the journey together, but had decided against it, letting the other ponies rest and clear their heads.

"Y'all ready?"

Twilight nodded, packing her own saddlebags, with Spike climbing on her back. After throwing a last glance around the library, making sure everything was in order, Twilight, Spike, Applejack, Nachlicht, Stargazer and Shining Armor exited the library.

Ponyville's Station was mostly empty, with only a few ponies making lines to buy tickets. Shining Armor waited in line while the others sat on the waiting room. Besides their luggage, Stargazer had prepared lunch for they all to eat while traveling. Uneventful chatter filled the time until the express to Canterlot arrived and they boarded. Finding an empty compartment, Shining Armor, Nachlicht and Applejack sat to one side, while Twilight, Stargazer and Spike occupied the other. The train whistled to life, the engine roaring, and with a cloud of smoke, it parted towards its destination.

Evening had fallen down on Ponyville and Fluttershy stood outside of her cottage, enjoying the swift breeze that brought a reprieve to her troubled mind. Some of her animal friends were at her side, while others played happily around. It had been a quiet day; she hadn't seen any of her friends, but it did not bother her, busy as she had been for the majority of the day. What bothered her was the fact that in the whole day she had not have any sight of a rainbow trail that often shone on the sky above Ponyville, marking a certain pegasus' presence. She had kept it pushed out of her mind, but when she found herself out of chores for the time being, her mind registered it. She could see, on the distance, the floating cloud structure that doubled as said pegasus' home. She decided to go and pay a visit to her friend, taking advantage of her free time in the evening. After closing the door to her cottage, she made her way towards Ponyville.

"Rainbow Dash, are you there?" she called softly from the ground,lifting her neck to look at the other pegasus' home floating above. "Rainbow Dash!" she called again. Despite having raised her voice, no answer came from the cloud home. Steadying herself, she soared slowly to reach the cloud home. She knocked on the door, which opened itself.

"Excuse me..." She entered the house, finding the main hall empty. She made her way through the cloud construction finding every room empty. There was nopony on the house. She stood out of the door, watching the rainbow waterfall falling down. All around her, she could see the clouds that wandered above Ponyville, none of which carried the cyan pegasus. She made her way to the ground.

"Rainbow Dash..."


End file.
